# LIBKARY OF CoXORESS. i 









^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 




/^ X^ /^^/^e^^^C^ 



PEOPLE'S EDITION. 



y 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT, 



FEOM HIS BOYHOOD TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 



HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 



BY 

CHARLES A. PHELPS, 

n 
Late Speaker of the Maes. House of RepreBentatiTes, and President of the Mass. Senate. 



<EvnbtIIis^£b iDi\\ f too Slttl portraits, anb Jonr |llnslraiiou8 from gtsisns 
bn ^ammatt fillings. 




BOSTON : 
LEE AND SHEPARD. 

1868. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year i858, by 

CHARLES A. PHELPS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



Boston : 
Electrotyped and Printed by Geo. C. Rand & Avery. 



r _ 

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*■• I care nothing for promotion, so long as our arms are successful." 

Grant to Sherman, February, 1862, 

' If my course is not satisfactory, remove me at once. I do not wish 
ill any way to impede the success of our arms." 

Grant to Halleck, Feb. (5, 1862. 

'' No theory of ray own will ever stand in the way of my executing 

in good faith any order I may receive from those in authority over 

me " 

Grant to Secretary Chase, Jvly, 1863. 

" I shall have no policy of my own to interfere against the will of 

the people." 

Grant, May 29, 1868 

'■ Human liberty the only true foundation of human government." 

Grant's Letter to Citizens of Memphis 

'■'■ Let us have Peace." 

Grant's Letter, May 29, 1808 



PREFACE. 



IN answer to the question which may be asked, " "Why- 
write another Life of Grant? " the author would say, that 
he has endeavored to prepare a biography of the man, 
Ulysses S. Grant, from his boyhood to the present time, 
differing in some respects from others which have fallen un- 
der his observation ; showing how, from a Western boy with 
no special advantages, he has come to be the foremost man 
of his time. He has not attempted to give a history of the 
late civil war, nor a militaiy criticism upon its campaigns, 
nor a passive narration of battle-scenes, but to portray the 
character of Gen. Grant as boy, cadet, lieutenant in the 
army, business-man, general, secretary of war, and his 
actions in each period of his career. While the author has 
no desire to conceal his deep sympathy with the principles 
of freedom which warred with the Rebellion, and whose 
final triumph is involved in the approaching presidential 
election, yet he has sought to avoid a partisan harangue. 

He has availed himself of all reliable sources of informa- 
tion ; and special care has been taken to verify statements 
of fact from official sources. He has consulted freely, and 
acknowledges his indebtedness to, the elaborate and candid 

iii 



iv Preface. 

work of Horace Greeley on " The American Conflict," and 
the admirable and most interesting Military History of 
Gen. Badeau. Wherever anecdotes were authentic they 
have been inserted, as anecdotes often reveal character 
more clearly than great achievements. 

In a word, the book has been written for the masses of 
the people, and from a desire to furnish an accurate and 
complete Life of Grant and Colfax in a compact form for 
<reneral circulation. It is but justice to add, that the author 
has been encouraged in the work by the offer of the publish- 
ers to prepare an edition at about the cost of manufacture ; 
thus placing it within the reach of all those brave men 
whom Gen. Grant led to victory in war, and the millions of 
his countrymen whom he is to lead to more glorious vic- 
tories in peace. CHARLES A. PHELPS. 

Boston, July 9, 1868. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 

PAGE. 

Birth and Ancestors. — Family History. — Origin of his Name. — 
Anecdotes of his Boyhood. — Desire for an Education. — Cir- 
cumstances attending his Appointment as Cadet at West Point. 
— Peculiarities of his Education there. — Education not always 
Wisdom. — Graduates. — Enters the Army. — Serves through 
the Mexican War. — His Gratitude to a Benefactor ... 1 

CHAPTER II. 

ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER. — BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

Returns to the United States. — Stationed in California and Ore- 
gon. — Removal to St. Louis. — Marriage. — Farming. — 
Removal to Galena, 111. — Attack on Fort Sumter. — The 
Flag. — Majestic Uprising of the People. — Relinquishes Busi- 
ness to commence recruiting. — Offers his Services to the 
State. — Acts as Adjutant-General. — Gov. Yates's Descrip- 
tion of Grant. — Appoints him Colonel. — Appointed Briga- 
dier-General. — In Command at Cairo. — Takes Paducah. — 
Account of Grant's Life and Habits by the Chaplain of the 
Regiment. — Battle of Belmont 11 



vi Contents. 

CHAPTER III. 

FORT HENRY. 

Fremont's Order confiscating Slaves. — Revoked by President Lin- 
coln. — Halleck supersedes Fremont. — Halleck's Order No. 3. 

— Fort Henry described. — Asks Permission to attack the Fort. 

— Is refused. — Aided by Commodore Foote. — Permission 
given. — Grant's Energy. — Drawing the Fire of the Fort. — 
Anecdote of Foote. — The Gunboats. — The Attack. — Recep- 
tion of the old Flag in Tennessee. — Decides to attack Fort 
Donelson without Orders 27 



CHAPTER IV. 

CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 

Fort Donelson. — Its Strength. — "The March of the Army." — 
The Bivouac. — Attack of the Gvinboats. — Interview between 
Foote and Grant.. — Battle nearly lost. — Anecdote of Dessaix. 

— Smith ordered to charge. — The Enemy attempt to escape. 

— Grant and Empty Haversacks. — Grant explains his Plans. 

— Napoleon at Austerlitz. — Intelligence of American Sol- 
diers. — Brilliant Chai-ge of Smith. — His Appearance. — Nel- 
son. — Floyd in Midnight Conclave. — Slave's Visit at Night to 
Gi'ant's Hut. — Cambrone. — Flight of Floyd and Pillow. — 
Correspondence of Buckner and Grant. — Unconditional Sur- 
render. — Stanton's Letter. — Scenes in the Army and in the 
North contrasted 34 

CHAPTER V. 

BATTLE OF SHILOII. 

Effects of Capture of Fort Donelson. — Beginning of Friendship 
between Grant and Sherman. — Grant censured by Halleck. — 
Grant presented with a Sword. — Description of the Field of 
Shiloh. — Battle of Shiloh. — Advance of Buell. — Beaure- 
gard's Promise. — Sherman's Bravery. — Grant on the Field. 

— Anecdote as to retreating. — Final Repulse of the Enemy. 

— Grant's Poetry. — Grant's Theory about Battles. — Fearful- 
Carnage. — Sufferings of a Battle ; by what produced . . 50 



Contents. "vh 

chapter vi. 

BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING. 

Night before the Battle. - Blessings of Sleep. - Opening of the 
Battle. — Beauregard. — View of the Rebel Army. — The 
Enemy driven. — Grant leads the Final Charge. — The En- 
emy give Way. — Grant's Desire to pursue. — Condition of the 
Soldiers. — Terrible Slaughter. — Sherman's Description. — 
Grant's Order.- Reqiicst of Beauregard. — Reply of Grant. 
-The Sanitary Commission. -Its great Work. -Description 
of the Southern and Northern Soldier. -The Difference. - 
Napoleon and Marshal Soult. — Change in Grant's Views of 
the Nature of the Rebellion.— Arrival of Gen. Halleck. — At 
tacks on Grant. - His Defence by Sherman and Washburne . 64 



CHAPTER VII. 

SIEGE OF CORINTH. 

The Siege of Corinth. — Grant favors an Immediate Attack. — His 
Advice repulsed. -Halleck's Army. -Forty Miles of Breast- 
works. — Depressing Effect on our Victorious Army. — The 
over-cautious Man. — Grant examines the Enemy's Works. — 
Believes they can be carried by Assault. - Halleck deceived 
by Beauregard. -Corinth evacuated. - The Escape of the 
Enemy. — Slow Pursuit. — Grant's Predictions verified . 



76 



CHAPTER VIII. 

BATTLE OF lUKA. — BATTLE OP CORINTH. 

Re-organization of Military Departments. - Grant's Treatment of 
Guerillas and Rebel Newspapers. - Camps for Fugitive Slaves. 

— Bragg's Attempt to deceive Grant. — Failure. —Battle of 
luka. — Battle of Corinth. — Reckless Courage of the Rebels. 

— Grant's Foresight. - Sends Hurlbut and Ord to cut off the 
Enemy. — Delay of Rosecrans —Grant's Displeasure. — Fow- 
ell Buxton. — The Victory. — President Lincoln's Despatch. — 
Grant's Modesty. - Curious Letter of Abraham Lincoln to 
Andrew Johnson. -"Old Terms under the Constitution.' - 
Grant's Reception of the Emancipation Proclamation. — His 
Policy concerning it . • • 



81 



viii Contents. 

CHAPTER IX. 

VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 

Description of the Valley of the INIississippi. — Its Importance. — 
Determination of the West. — Grant's Sympathy. — Anecdote 
of Judge Douglas at St. Louis. — Rebel Works at Vicksburg. 

— The Canal. — The Yazoo Pass. — Moon Lake. — Gen. Ross's 
Exijedition. — Advance of the Gunboats. — Attack on Fort 
Pemberton. — Ross's Peril. — The Fleet in Danger. — Message 
sent by a Slave. — Sherman's Night March. — A Torchlight 
Procession. — "Marshal Forwards." — Failure of Different 
Schemes. — Grant censured. — Vicksburg a Gibraltar. — Presi- 
dent Lincoln's Confidence in Grant 92 

CHAPTER X. 

RUNNING THE BATTERIES. 

Grant decides to move South of Vicksburg. — Is opposed by all his 
Generals. — Earnest Remonstrances of Sherman. — Anecdote 
of Nelson at Aboukir. — Attitude of Grant. — Moral Grandeur. 

— Scott on Cavalry. — Grierson's Raid. — The Boats to run the 
Batteries. — Anecdote of the Illinois Boy. — Varied Capacities 
of the American Soldier. — Splendid Night-Scene on the River. 

— The Boats pass the Batteries. — Princely Residence burned 

by its Owner 102 

CHAPTER XI. 

CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI. — BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON. 

The Army crosses the Mississippi. — Gunboats attack Grand Gulf. 

— The Repulse. — Feint at Haine's Bluff. — Grant's Untiring 
Activity. — His Baggage a Tooth-Brush. — Marches on Port 
Gibson. —Inspiring Scene. — The Battle. — Hon. Mr. Wash- 
burne. —7 Rapidity of Grant's Movements. — Gov. Yates's De- 
spatch ........... 

CHAPTER XIL 

GRAND GOLF CAPTURED. 

Capture of Grand Gulf. — Marches on Jackson. — Abandons his 
Base. — His Determination. — His Energy. — Feeds his Army 
off the Country. — Anecdote of Frederick the Great. — Genius 



112 



Contents. ix 

makes its own Rules. —Apprehensions of Grant's Officers. — 
His Policy toward Rebels in War. — Bombastic Proclamation 
of Gov. Pettus. — Battle of Raymond. — Valor of Irish Sol- 
diers. — Pemberton's Perplexities about Grant's Base . .121 

CHAPTER XIII. 

BATTLE AT JACKSON. 

Pemberton puzzled by Grant's Strategy. — Battle at Jackson. — The 
Victory. — The Army enter the City. — Burning of the Hotel 
by the Soldiers. — Their Excuse. — Inhuman Conduct of its 
Inmates. — Banquet of Rebel Officers in Anticipation of Vic- 
tory. — Pemberton's Solicitude about Grant's Base. — Cannot 
comprehend Grant's Strategy. — Battle at Champion's Hill. — 
Anecdote of Davoust at Wagram. — Hill of Death. — Curious 
Order received by Grant. — The Victory. — Soldiers sing 
" Old Hundred." — Impressive Scene 132 

CHAPTER XIV. 

BATTLE AT BIG BLACK RIVER. 

Battle at Big Black River. — Heroic Assault of Lawler's Brigade. 

— The Victory. — The Enemy retreat to Vicksburg. — Pur- 
suit by Sherman's Corps. — Results of the Campaign. — The 
Campaign a Novelty in War. — Napoleon's forced Contribu- 
tions. — Strange Scene between Sherman and Grant. — Their 
Friendship. — Friendships of Great Men 143 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG. 

Vicksburg invested. — Grant's Position. — Determines to Assault. 

— Preparations. — The Assault. — The Forlorn Hope. — The 
Repulse. — The Siege. — Preparation to fight Johnston. — 
Rebel attempts to build Boats with the Houses of Vicksburg. 

— Explosion of the Mine. — Progress of the Siege. — Distress 
of the Inhabitants. — Scarcity of Food. — Living in Caves. — 
Pemberton writes to Grant. — Their Interview. — Pemberton's 
Demand for Terms. — Unconditional Surrender. — Entrance 
of the Union Army into Vicksburg. — Interesting Scenes. — 
Immense Work done during the Siege. — The Largest Capture 
ever made in War 148 



X Contents. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

FORT HUDSON TAKEN. 

Grant recommends Sherman for Promotion. — President Lin- 
coln's Letter to Grant. — Amusing Defence of Grant by Presi- 
dent Lincoln. — Port Hudson taken by Gen. Banks. — Sher- 
man ordered to attack Johnston. — He moves on Jackson, 
Miss. — Jackson evacuated by Johnston. — Protection given 
to Colored Troops. — Grant's Views of Slavery. — No Peace 
until this Question is settled. — Theories on Slave Property. — 
Grant insists that Colored Troops shall have Equal Rights with 
White Troops. — Gen. Banks testifies to Bravery of Colored 
Troops 167 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THEORIES OF TRADE. ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY. 

Grant satisfied the Rebellion cannot be coaxed out of Existence. — 
Views of " Trade," " Jobs," and " Speculation." — Appointed 
Major-General. — Intrigues of England in Mexico. — Eng- 
land's "Neutrality." — England's Consistency, Justice, Mag- 
nanimity, and Moderation, especially in India and Ireland. — 
Opening of the Mississippi. — Extortion prevented. — Grant's 
Care of his Soldiers. — Grant and the Steamboat Captain. — 
Visit to Rlemphis. — Honors paid him. — Visits New Orleans. 
— Appearance at the Review. — Horse-Flesh. — Accident. — 
Ordered to Chattanooga. — "A small Chance of a Fighter." , 176 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE. 

Grant's New Department. — Its Vastness. — His Great Power. — 
Ceaseless Activity of the New Commander. — His Arrival at 
Night at Camp. — Anecdote of Marshal Ney. — Magnanimity 
of Gen. Thomas. — Description of Chattanooga. — Descent of 
the Tennessee at Night. — Singing of Rebel Pickets. — Wolfe's 
Descent of the St. Lawrence. — Battle at Wauhatchie. — Great 
Change in the Army effected by Grant. — Anecdote of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. — His Comments on Grant. — Mountaineers ; 
their Love of Freedom. — Unparalleled Suffering of Union Men 
in Tennessee. — Grant's Sympathy. — His Orders for their 
Protection. — Burnside at Knoxville. — Gi'ant's Impatience to 
attack Bragg. — His Solicitude for and Care of Sherman . 187 



Contents. xi 

CHAPTER XJX. 

PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA. 

Gigantic Preparations for the Campaign. — Grant at Chattanooga. 

— Sherman's Arrival. — Grant shows him the Field of the 
Expected Battle. — Explains his Plans. — Sherman's Enthu- 
siasm. — Rows himself down the Tennessee at Night. — 
Bridges the Tennessee. — The Army cross. — Battle at Look- 
out Mountain. — Rebels retreat to Missionary Ridge. — Presi- 
dent Lincoln's Message 202 

CHAPTER XX. 

BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE. 

Grant's Fertility of Resources. — Scene on the Morning of the 
Battle. — Grant's Plan. — Appearance of the Soldiers. — 
Heavy Fighting of Sherman's Division. — Charge of Sheridan. 

— Sherman in Danger. — Grant sends Re-enforcements. — 
The Grand Attack on the Centre. — The Victory. — Grant's 
Welcome among the Troops. — The Largest Capture on any 
Field of Battle. — Jefferson Davis's Visit to Missionary Ridge. 

— "The Devil's Pulpit" 211 

CHAPTER XXL 

THE BATTLE OF RINGGOLD. 

Pursuit of the Enemy. — Scene at Chickamauga. — Battle of 
Ringgold. — Great Slaughter. — Grant turns the Enemy's Po- 
sition. — Miseries of War. — Grant desires to relieve Burn- 
side. — He deceives the Enemy. — His Despatch to Burnside . 218 

CHAPTER XXII. 

SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE. 

Location of Knoxville. — Its Fortifications. — Longstreet deter- 
mines to assault. — The Assault. — The Repulse. — Suffer- 
ings of the Rebel Wounded. — Burnside's Humanity. — Offers 
a Truce to bury the Dead. — Longstreet deceived by Grant's 
Despatch. — Raises the Siege. — Sherman arrives at Knoxville. 

— Interview with Sherman. — Grant's Address to his Army . 223 



xii Contents. 

CHAPTER XXm. 

RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN. 

Disastrous Effects of the Campaign on the Confederacy. — The 
Rebellion dethroned in the West. — Honors to Grant. — Reso- 
lutions of Congress. — National Medal. — Methodist Confer- 
ence. — Grant visits the Outposts of his Army. — Dangers and 
Fatigues. — Visit to Lexington. — Proposes the Campaign 
against Atlanta and Mobile. — Visit to St. Louis. — Honors 
paid him. — Banquet. — Anecdote. — Speech-making. — Ef- 
forts to aid the Sanitary Commission 229 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

APPOINTED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. 

Military Power united. — Congress revives the Grade of Lieutenant- 
General. — Badeau's Testimony. — Interesting Correspondence 
between Grant and Sherman. — Grant's Arrival at Washing- 
ton. — Scene at the Hotel. — Ceremonies on receiving his Com- 
mission. — Speeches of President Lincoln and Gen. Grant. — 
Levee at the White House. — " Warm Campaign." — Gratifi- 
cation of the People at the Appointment 233 

CHAPTER XXV. 

RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. — THE ADVANCE. 

Gen. Grant re-organizes the Army. — E.x.tended Theatre of the 
War. — Grant's Varied Campaigns. — Operations of Sheri- 
dan, Banks, Sherman, Steele, and Butler. — Topography of 
Virginia. — Its Facilities for offering Defensive War. — Rich- 
mond. — Preparations for an Advance. — Mutual Confidence 
between President Lincoln and Grant. — Their Letters. — 
Deatli- Warrant of the Rebellion 239 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS. 

The Grand Ailvance. — Scene at the Crossing of the Rapidan. — 
Description of tlie Wilderness. — Lee's Great Advantage. — 
Breaking of the Rebel Line. — Lee rallies his Men. — Deter- 



Contents. xiii 

mines to lead a Charge. — Is compelled to retire by his Sol- 
diers. — Anecdote of Lee and one of his Veterans. — Death of 
Gen. Wadsworth. — Grant's Remarks on Northern and South- 
ern Soldiers. — Honors due to the Private Soldiers. — Retreat 
of Lee to Spottsylvania. — Death of Gen. Sedgwick. — "I shall 
fight it out on this Line." — Prisoners captured. — Battle at 
Spottsylvania. — Grant's Coolness. — Anecdote. — Death of 
Gen. Rice. — Harvest of Death 241 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR. 

Sherman's March. — Its Announcement to the Army. — Sheridan's 
Raid. — Battle at Beaver Dam. — Death of Gen. Stuart. — 
Grant's Flank- March. — Its Difficulties. — Movement to the 
Pamunkey. — Old Battle-Fields. — McClellan. — Battle of 
Cold Harbor. — The Assault of the Sixth Corps. — Burn- 
side. — Death of Gen. Porter. — Wonderful Success . . 250 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 

The March to the James River. — Its Difficulties. — Its Success. — 
Astonishment of Gen. Lee. — Petersburg assaulted. — Wil- 
son's Raid. — Petersburg invested. — Thirty Miles of Works. 
— Immense Labors of Gen. Grant. — Anecdote of Grant and 
the Young Lieutenant. — Grant's Sympathy with his Men. — 
Anecdote of Sir Ralph Abercromby. — Visit of President Lin- 
coln to the Army. — The Mine. — Its Explosion. — Failure to 
carry the Rebel Works. — Colored Troops. — Grant's Testi- 
mony. — Grant's Letter on the Rebels "robbing the Cradle 
and the Grave." — Sends Sheridan to the Valley of the Shen- 
andoah. — Oidered to "Go in." — Grant's Management of 
the Campaign 256 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Sherman's march. 

News of Hood's March into Tennessee. — Grant's Comment. — 
Anecdote. — Burning of Atlanta. — Remonstrance of the 
Mayor. — Arguments of Sherman. — Appearance of Atlanta. 



xiv Contents. 

— Its Desolation. — Last Hours of the Army in Atlanta. — 
"John Brown's Soul goes marching on." — The Advance to 
the Sea. — The Campaign. — Charlestown evacuated. — Co- 
lumbia captured. — Consumed by Fire. — Retribution, — 
Union Soldiers starved in a Land of Plenty. — Co-operating 
Expeditions sent out by Grant. — Effects of Slavery. — Anec- 
dote. — Grant's Commendation of Sherman .... 266 

CHAPTER XXX. 

lee's retreat. 

The End approaching. — Grierson's Raid. — Canby's Expedition 
against Mobile. — Wilson's and Stoneman's Expeditions. — 
Sheridan and Early. — Lee attacks Fort Steadman. — Is re- 
pulsed. — Lee's Desperation. — Battle at Five Forks. — Sheri- 
dan's Appearance on the Field. — The Victory. — Night Bom- 
bardment. — Grant's Reception among the Soldiers. — Last 
Grand Attack of Lee's Army. — Hill's Division. — Anecdote 
of Stonewall Jackson. — Petersburg evacuated by Lee . . 271 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

capture of RICHMOND. 

Rejoicings at City Point. — Lee telegraphs to Jefferson Davis that 
Richmond must be evacuated. — Davis receives the Despatch 
at Church. — Curiosity of the People. — Preparations to leave. 

— Excitement throughout the City. — The Burning of Rich- 
mond. — Destruction of Property caused by tlie Rebel Army. 

— Scenes during the Conflagration. — Entrance of the Union 
Army. — Raising of the Flag on the Capitol. — Rejoicings at 
the North. — Rebel Army evacuate Petersburg. — Lee confi- 
dent of a Safe Retreat. — Grant's Pursuit. — Battle at Sailor's 
Creek 280 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE surrender OF GEN. LEE. 

Crossing of the Appomattox. —Famished Condition of the Rebel 
Army. — Consultation of Lee's Generals. — Correspondence 
between Grant and Lee. — Sheridan near Appomattox. — Des- 
peration of Lee's Army. — Custer. —His Appearance on the 



Contents. xv 

Yield. — The Flag of Truee. — Appomattox Court House. — 
Its Appearance. — Arrival of Grant. — Meeting of Grant and 
Sheridan. — Wellington and Bluclier. — The Interview of 
Grant and Lee. — Terms of the Surrender. — Scene after the 
Surrender. — Relic-Hunters. — Grant's Magnanimity. — Grant 
leaves for Washington. — Stops the Draft. — Assassination of 
President Lincoln. — Capture of Davis. — Sherman and John- 
ston. — Grant's Visit to Sherman. — Johnston's Final Sur- 
render. — Numbers of both Armies. — Grant's Farewell to 
the Army 287 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

6BN. GRAKT SINCE THE WAR. 

Character of the War. — Its Cost in Men and Money. — Grant 
ordered to visit the South. — His Report. — The Grade of 
" General " revived by Congress. — The Debate. — Commen- 
dation of Democrats. — Aifairs in Rebel States. — Sheridan's 
Report. — Johnson decides to remove Stanton and Sheridan. 
— Remonstrance of Grant. — Johnson's Orders. — Grant's 
Letter to Stanton 298 

CHAPTER. XXXIV. 

CONCLUSION. 

Outline of Grant's History. — His Honesty. — Judgment. — Inde- 
pendence. — Course since the War. — Oratory and Statesman- 
ship. — His Reticence. — The Reformer and the Magistrate. — 
His Magnanimity. — His Patriotism 313 



CONTENTS TO SKETCH OF COLFAX. 



CHAPTER I. 

Birth. — Ancestors. — Boyhood. — Moves to the "West. — Juvenile 
Debating Club. — Becomes an Editor. — His Ealrness and 
Courtesy. — Enters Political Life. — Repeal of Missouri Com- 
promise. — Kossuth. — American Stump-Speaking. — Mr. Col- 
fax elected to Congress. — Debate on Kansas. — Extract from 
Speech. — Admiration of Henry Clay. — Interest in Pacific 
Railroad. — Friendship for Mr. Lincoln. — Urged for a Seat in 
the Cabinet 322 

CHAPTER IL 

Chosen Speaker of House of Representatives. — Qualifications of 
a Presiding Officer. — Lord Stowell. — Journey across the Con- 
tinent. — Parting Interview with President Lincoln. — The 
Night of the Assassination. — Receives the President's last 
Good-by. — Eulogy. — Speeches to the Mormons. — Views on 
Mexican Question. — Manufacturing Interests. — Nomination 
for Vice-President. — Speech at Serenade — Speech to Com- 
mittee of Soldiers' and Sailors' Convention. — Formal Pres- 
entation of his Nomination. — Address on accepting. — Let- 
ter of Acceptance. — Personal Description. — Opinion of Gen. 
Grant. — Characteristics , 329 



APPENDIX. 
Republican Platform 342 




'iiiiiir 



iilr" ■!:*'?■ 



'ii 'i 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER I. 



BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 



ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT was born, April 
27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, 
Ohio, a small town on the Ohio River, twenty-five 
miles above Cincinnati. The Grants are of Scotch 
descent ; and the motto of their clan in Aberdeenshire 
was, " Stand fast, stand firm, stand sure." Grant in- 
herits from many of his ancestors a love for freedom, 
anfl a determination to fight for its cause. In 1799, his 
grandfatlier, a Pennsylvania farmer, joined the great 
tide of emigration moving to the North-west Territory. 

This fertile and attractive region had recently been 
consecrated to freedom forever by the great Ordinance 
of 1787. There, there would be neither slaves nor 
slavery ; there, labor would be honorable in all. 

His great-grandfather, Capt. Noah Grant of Windsor, 

Conn., and his brother, Lieut. Solomon Grant, were 

soldiers in the old French War, and were bt)tli killed 

in battle in 1756 ; and it is not to be forgotten that 

1 1 



2 Life of General Grant. 

the old muster-rolls of the company bear the names of 
several negro soldiers who fought and died by their side. 
His grandfather, also Noah Grant of Windsor, hurried 
from his fields at the first conflict of the Revolution, 
and appeared as a lieutenant on Lexington Common 
on the morning of the memorable 19th of April, when 
the embattled farmers "fired the shot heard round the 
world." 

Jesse R. Grant, the father of Ulysses, was bom in 
Pennsylvania in 1794. He married Hannah Simpson, 
the daughter of a friend and neighbor. They had six 
children. Mr. Grant learned his business as a tanner 
in Maysville, Ky., but left for Ohio because he would 
not own a slave, nor live where slaves w^ere owned. 
He is a man of great force of character, of marked in- 
dividuality, of industry, integrity, and thrift ; and still 
lives to enjoy the respect of his fellow-citizens and the 
world-wide fame of his son. 

Like other great men, Grant has an excellent mother, 
— a pious woman, cheerful, unambitious of worldly dis- 
play, watchful of her children, and " looking well to the 
ways of her household." Her husband pays her the 
highest tribute wliich can be paid to any wafe and 
mother in saying, "Her steadiness, firmness, and strength 
of character, have been the stay of the family through 
life." , 

The strenoth of a mother's love has been famed from 

o 

earliest time. " Floods cannot quench it, nor the seas 
drown." While Grant was in the Mexican War, his 
mother's hair turned wliite from anxiety. He was 
young ; had just entered t1)L' nr-iny ; he was far away, sur- 
rounded by so many temptations, he might "fall from 



Birth and Early Life. 3 

life, or, sadder yet, from virtue." But the mother's love 
and prayers, which carried him daily in her heart to 
God, were his shield from his cradle ; and the man does 
not live who ever heard him utter a profane word. 
Throughout all the harassing and perplexing cares of 
his army-life, no negligence, carelessness, misbehavior, 
ill-temper in others, tempted him to irreverence. Always, 
at all times, he w^as self-controlled ; and " self-control is 
self-completion." During the Rebelhon, she still fol- 
lowed him with the eyes of her heart on the road to 
fame, but with more faith and trust. She believed 
God had raised him up to deliver and bless his native 
land, and would guide and protect him. How much 
the world owes to pious mothers ! 

Love of their children was a strono;ly-marked trait 
in the family. Mr. Grant, senior, when in the full en- 
joyment of his powers of mind and body, took a com- 
petence from his own property, and divided the remainder 
among his children, except Ulysses, who declined to 
receive it. Gen. Grant wanted the companionship of 
his young son in his absence from his family in camp ; 
and, wishing also to bring him in contact with actual 
life under his own eye, he took him with him to Cham- 
pion Hill, and through the campaign at Vicksburg. And 
on the morning at the White House when he received 
his commission from President Lincoln as Lieutenant- 
General of the Union armies, there w^ere assembled, 
besides the cabinet, only one or two officials ; but, when 
Gen. Grant entered, his httle son was by his side. So 
sweet is it to the human heart to have our success 
witnessed by those we h:)ve ! 

He was originally christened Hiram Ulysses ; his 



4 Life of General Grant. 

grandfather giving the name of Hiram ; his grandmother, 
who was a great student of history, giving the name of 
Ulysses, whose character had strongly attracted her 
admiration. The member of Congress who appointed 
Grant to his cadetship at West Point when a boy of 
seventeen, by accident changed his name, in filling his 
appointment, to U. S. Grant. Grant repeatedly en- 
deavored to have the mistake corrected at West Point, 
and at the War Department at Washington ; but this 
was one of the few things in which he failed : his appli- 
cations were never complied with. As if fate foresaw 
the patriotic duty, the filial love, the transcendent ser- 
vices, he was one day to render his country, the govern- 
ment seemed to insist, when adopting him among her 
military children, on renaming him, and giving to him 
her own initials, — " U. S.," which he has ever since 
borne. 

It has been thought remarkable that the mother of 
Napoleon should have happened to give birth to her 
warrior-son beneath tapestried hangings on which were 
wrought battle-pictures from the Iliad. Is it not a little 
singular that the maternal relative of Grant should 
have chosen for her admiration, from all history, the 
character of the hero of the siege of Troy ; have given 
his name to the infent Grant ; and that forty years after, 
when leading the Union armies of the Republic, he 
should have exhibited the same invincible fortitude, 
untiring patience, and unconquerable perseverance, so 
celebrated in the immortal song of Homer ? Ulysses of 
old was himself the verij man who " fought it out on 
the line he had chosen, if it took all sunnner.'' 

Grant was neither a precocious nor a stui»id child: 



Birth and Early Life. 5 

he was a well-behaved, dutiful boy. He attended the 
public school in the village ; he learned well, but was no 
prodigy. The first book he read was " The Life of Wash- 
ington," which made on his mind and imagination a 
profound and lasting impression. A Canadian relative 
of about his own age visiting him soon after, Washing- 
ton was very naturally spoken of by the two boys. 
His Canadian cousin said " he was nothing but a 
rebel, after all." Both boys were excited; and Grant 
said, " If you say that again, I'll thrash you." It was 
repeated with defiance. Off went their jackets, and the 
Canadian soon had the worst of it. Years after. Grant 
was reminded of the incident by his cousin ; and he 
assured him pleasantly that he should do the same thing 
again with like provocation. 

His special fondness was for a horse, and he attended 
the circus whenever it passed through the village. One 
came along in which there was an innocent-looking 
pony, which was brought out during the performances ; 
and then the question would be mildly asked with a 
smile, " Is there any little boy here who would like 
a ride? " 

The pony was trained to go furiously round, and, at 
a given signal from his master, throw the boy head first 
on to the tan in the ring ; when the surprised and morti- 
fied boy would pick himself up, and retreat amid the 
lauohter of the crowd. When the question was asked, 
Ulysses stepped Into the ring, mounted ; and the pony 
started. On he Avent ; crack, crack, went the whi]) ; 
faster and faster went the pony. At the signal, he kicked 
up his heels, reared, plunged, shook his back. The peo- 
ple shouted ; but the boy sat still. Out came a large 



6 Life of General Grant. 

monkey, and jumped up behind him, tore off his cap, 
and clutched his hair. Ulysses looked neither to the 
right nor the left ; he spoke not a word, but clung like 
grim death to the saddle, until the ring-master gave it 
up, and stopped the pony. 

This anecdote is of no consequence, except as ex- 
hil)iting a native and eai'ly-developed trait in Grant's 
character, — of always doing what he attempted to do. 
He had undertaken to ride the pony, crowd or no 
ci'owd, monkej'orno monkey; and he rode him. " The 
difference in boys," said Dr. Arnold, " is not so much 
m talent as in energy." 

Another anecdote illustrates the same trait, but 
exhibits more strategy and ingenuity. When twelve 
years old, Mr. Grant's men were hauling heavy logs 
from the woods. Ulysses drove the horse. One day, 
when he reached the woods, he found the logs, but not 
the men. He waited ; but the men did not come. He 
determined not to go home without the logs. So, after 
contriving some time, he hitched the chain to one end 
of a log, and drew it up on to a tree which had fallen, 
so that one end was higher than the other. When he 
had three logs in position, he backed the hind end of 
the wagon under them, and then, with the chain, hauled 
the logs on to the Avagon, and drove home in triumph. 
Quite a little feat for a boy of twelve years of age. 

He never liked his father's business of tanning. It 
■was disagreeable ; and he early determined not to follow 
it. He wanted an education. He said he would be a 
farmer, or trade down the river ; but a tanner he would 
not be. 

His father, with limited means, did not feel, that, in 



Birth and Early Life. 7 

justice to himself and his other children, he could 
afford the money to send him to college. 

He appHed, with the boy's assent, for a vacant cadet- 
ship at West Point. The appointment was to be made 
by Hon. T. L. Hamer, the member of Congress from 
the district. His term of office expired at noon, March 
4, 1839. Mr. Grant's letter, asking for the appoint- 
ment of his son, reached him on the night of the 3d. 
On the morning of the 4th, the appointment was made. 

It is remarkable, that, without any special preparatory 
study, he passed the rigid examination which all cadets 
are obliged to undergo, and was at once admitted to 
the academy. 

The story which has been told, that Grant was 
"hazed" at West Point, and had a fight with some of 
the cadets, is an error. Grant had no difficulty, either 
with the officers or his fellow-cadets. He never struck 
nor was struck while there by any person whatever. 

It was in the years passed at the academy that Grant 
. laid the foundation of his greatness. Wellington, once 
looking at the playground at Eton with a friend, said, 
" 'Twas there Waterloo was won." It was at West 
Point that Donelson and Vicksburg and Chattanoo- 
ga were made possible to Grant. Gibbon says every 
man has two educations, — one acquired from others ; 
one more important, which he gives to himself. Grind- 
ing gerunds may be study, but is not necessarily edu- 
cation. Education and wisdom are different things. 
A man may be very learned, and very unwise ; he may 
know a great deal, and be very ignorant ; be highly ed- 
ucated, and be very foolish. A man, like a gun, may 
be overloaded to his own injury and that of others ; may 



8 Life of General Grant. 

possess every sense but common sense ; understand 
words, and be ignorant of atftiirs. Such men are " wells 
that hold no water ;• " or rather they hold it so closely, no 
one's thirst is quenched. Like Shakspeare's purblind 
Aro-us, they are " all eyes, and no sight." Such are the 
medical scholars who lose all their patients ; legal 
scholars who lose all their clients ; and, last of all, milita- 
ry scholars who lose all their battles. They are edu- 
cated, but to the death of all usefulness. 

But Grant received at West Point tli^e best education 
a man can receive ; namely, that which fits him for his 
work in life. He was not compelled, as most men are 
under our college systems, to waste years in studying 
the rules of Greek accents and scanning Latin verse ; 
making them, often, alive to the " dead languages," 
while dead to most living tilings. He was subjected 
to a course of physical training which invigorated his 
body. He was taught fencing, drawing, riding, dancing ; 
he was taught science, mathematics, the modern lan- 
o-uacres, constitutional and international law, and engi- 
neering. 

Men are not educated by books alone. " The gods 
forbid," said Plato, "that to philosophize should be only 
to read a great many books." " I know neither art nor 
science," said Pythagoras ; " but I am a philosopher." 

Young Grant appreciated and improved all the oppor- 
tunities which were offered to him. He gave those 
years diligently to self-improvement in the widest sense. 
He graduated with a good rank in his class ; and, what 
was better, without vices which enfeebled his body, or 
mental habits which depraved his mind. 

On leaving the academy, he could recall his life there 



Birth and Early Life. 9 

with a satisfaction similar to that with wliich Curran 
so touchingly recalled to Lord Avonmore their early 
days and nights of study together : — 

" We spent them not in toys or lust or wine, 
But seai'ch of deep philosophy." 

In July, 18-13, he entered the United-States army 
' as a brevet second lieutenant in the fourth regiment of 
infantry. He was ordered to the frontiers of Missouri, 
amono- the Indians, then on the outer borders of civiliza- 
tion. Here Lieut. Grant remained nearly two years ; 
when, in 1815, he was ordered to Corpus Christi, Tex., 
where United-States troops were gathering under com- 
mand of Gen. Zachary Taylor. War ensued, not long 
after, between the United States and ]Mexico, on the 
question of boundary-lines. From the first attack on 
Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras, Lieut. Grant was in 
every battle in the Mexican War except Buena Vista, 
— fourteen in all. At Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, 
Monterey, Chapultepec, in every engagement, he con- 
ducted himself with distinguished bravery, which elicited 
special mention from his superiors in command. In 
1847, he was appointed brevet captain ; his commission 
dating from the day on which the battle of Chapultepec 
was fought. In 1853, he was promoted to a full cap- 
taincy. 

In 1864, Gen. Scott said to Col. Badeau of Gen. 
Grant's staff, the accomplished historian of his military 
life, that he remembered a young officer named Grant, 
who distinguished himself in the :Mexican War ; and at 
Appomattox Court House, at the surrender of Gen. Lee, 
the latter remarked to Grant, that he remembered hav- 
ing seen him in Mexico during the war. 



10 Life op General Grant. 

But Grant's service in Mexico gave him an opportu- 
nity of showing that he had a warm and grateful heart, 
and could do something manly beside fighting, Hon. 
Mr. Haraer, who, as member of Congress, had appointed 
Grant to his cadetship, and to whom he felt greatly in- 
debted for his education at West Point, went out to 
Mexico as a general of volunteers, and, while thei'e in 
camp, was taken sick. Lieut. Grant nursed him with 
the love of a son and the tenderness of a woman, per- 
formed for him the last offices of affection, and closed 
his eyes in death. 



CHAPTER II. 

ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER. BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

AT the close of tlie Mexican War, Capt. Grant re- 
turned to the United States, and was subsequently 
stationed on the Canadian frontier, in California, and m 
Oregon. But garrison life in that lonely region offered 
no opportunities of usefulness to himself or others. 
His years were wasting away in the small duties of an 
outpost ; and as the country was at peace, and had no 
special need of military service from him, he deter- 
mined to resign his commission, which he did in July, 
1854. 

He moved to St. Louis, and there married Miss 
Julia Dent, a sister of his classmate. Major Frederic 
T. Dent, of the United-States army, and a daughter of 
Frederic Dent, Esq., a merchant of that city. He 
soon took a farm in the suburbs of St. Louis, and 
labored in the life of a farmer. He would cut wood, 
and haul it to Carondelet : and citizens there tell of 
buying wood of Capt. Grant ; adding, that he dressed 
according to his work, wearing a slouched hat, a blouse, 
and his pantaloons tucked in at the top of his boots. 

But the wood-lot and the small farm did not yield 
an adequate income for the support and education of 
his family; and in 1859 he moved to Galena, III, 

11 



12 Life of General Grant. 

entered into business, and was residing tliere on tlie 
morning of the memorable 12th of April, 1861, when 
the teleo-raph flashed the news over the country that 
the rebels had fired on the old flag at Fort Sumter. 

"The oblio-ations of the intellect," it has been said, 
"are among the most sacred of the claims of gratitude." 
Macaulay, in his history of the attack of James the II. 
on the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, has 
given us a beautiful picture of the attachment which 
all men feel for the place of their education, and the 
oratitude which accompanies it. There are exceptions ; 
but Grant was not one of these. The country had 
adopted him and educated him. It had a claim of 
honor on his services in the day of peril : and he joy- 
ously recognized the bond, — all the more cheerfully, 
because it could not be enforced. There are some 
thino-s which it is impossible for a noble, manly nature 
to do. 

It would have been impossible for Grant to do as 
did Robert E. Lee, — be educated, supported, and hon- 
ored through life by the munificence of the government ; 
to remain in personal and official intimacy with Gen. 
Scott, studying his plans, and the numbers of the 
Union army, until the last day or two before the first 
battle at Bull Run; then steal into Virginia under 
pretence ■ of visiting his family, join the rebels, ami 
fight against the government which had made him all 
he was. For the honor of human nature, such in- 
stances are few. Grant could not have done this, any 
more than he could have struck the mother who bore 

liim. 

None of this generation whu witnessed it will ever 



Attack on Fort riuMTER. 13 

forget the majestic uprising of the people at the attack 
on Fort Sumter. The old flag, which had been re- 
garded chiefly as an ornament for festal occasions, 
became at once the dear symbol of our undying love 
for our native land. 

The human soul is so organized that it always requires 
a visible sign of its emotions : such was the eagle to 
the Roman, the cross to the Christian, the crescent to 
the Mahometan. The same sentiment in the heart of 
man was recognized and invoked in that most heart- 
breaking and mournful scene in human history, — the 
institution of the Last Supper, and the visible emblems 
of the body broken and the blood shed. The national 
ensign, representing all that was precious in national 
life or sacred in patriotic duty, was at once flung out 
from spire and balcony and mast-head, on land and 
sea. The occasion moved Grant to the utmost depths 
of his being. He said to a friend, " The government 
has educated me for the army. What I am, I owe to 
my country. I have served her through one war, and, 
live or die, will serve her through this." Noble words, 
and nobly have they been redeemed. 

Immediately he began recruiting and drilling a com- 
pany in the streets of Galena ; and, four days after, he 
went with it to Springfield, the capital of the State of 
Illinois, the home of Abraham Lincoln, and offered it 
to Gov. Yates. So modest was he, that he only applied 
to be their captain, thinking his military education 
would be of use to them : but another member desired 
the place, and informed Grant of his wish ; and the future 
lieutenant-general gave way. So little was the North 
prepared for war, that many of the States had no war 



14 Life of General Grant. 

department or adjutant-general's office. In many- 
instances, the office of adjutant-general was not tilled 
by officers experienced in the routine of military organi- 
zation. After a few days, Gov. Yates said to Grant 
one morning, " Do you know about these military 
details ? — how many men it takes to make a company, 
and how many to make a regiment, and what officers 
eacli must have ? " 

Grant replied, " Oh, yes, sir ! I was educated at 
West Point, and served eleven years in the regular 
army." 

" Then," said the governor, " sit right down in this 
arm-chair, and act as Adjutant-General of the State." 
He did so, and was of special service at Sprmgfield in 
organizing and forwarding regiments. Gov. Yates has 
since spoken of his first impressions of Gen. Grant in 
the following terms : — 

" In presenting himself to me, he made no reference to any 
merits, but simply said he had been the recipient of a military 
education at West Point ; and, now that the country was assailed, 
he thought it his duty to offer his services, and that he would 
esteem it a privilege to be assigned to any position where he could 
be useful. I cannot now claim to myself the credit of having 
discerned in him the promise of great achievements, or the quali- 
ties ' which minister to the making of great names,' more than in 
many others who proposed to enter the military service. His 
appearance^ at first sight, is not striking. He had no grand airs, 
no imposing appearance ; and I confess it could not be said he 
was a form 

' Where every god did seem to set his seal 
To give the world assurance of a man.' 

He was plain, very plain ; but still, sir, something — perhaps his 
plain, straightforward modesty and earnestness — induced me to 



Attack on Fort Sumter. 15 

assign him a desk in the executive office. In a short- time, I found 
him to be an invaluable assistant in my office and in that of the 
adjutant-general. He was soon after assigned to the command of 
the sbc camps of organization and instruction which I had 
established in the State." 

He had previously written to the Adjutant-General of 
the United States, at Washington, oifering his services, 
during the war, in any capacity in which he might 
be wanted; biTt it was merely from some unknown 
officer out West, by the name of Grant ; and tliis letter, 
which would have been read with interest by thousands 
for years to come, was not even preserved. 

He remained five weeks at Springfield, with the ex- 
ception of a flying visit to Cincinnati, which he made 
to see Gen. McClellan, whom he had known in the army, 
and with the secret thought that possibly INIcClellan 
would offer him a place on his staff ; but McClellan was 
absent, and he returned. 

On the 15th of June, 1861, Gov. Yates gave him his 
commission as colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of 
Illinois Volunteers. The regiment at once felt the hand 
of a master. Its reduced numbers were raised to a thou- 
sand men : order, discipline, exactness, Avere everywhere 
seen. He reported to Brig.-Gen. John Pope, by whom 
he was stationed at Mexico, in the State of Missouri. 
He at once showed such skill and efficiency as a trained 
mihtary man, that in August following, unknown to 
himself, upon the nomination of Hon. E. B. Washburne, 
member of Conoress from Illinois, who early discerned 
his abihties, he was appointed brigadier-general of vol- 
unteers, his rank dating from the 17th of May. 

Gen. Pope had been succeeded in the Western 



16 Life of General Grant, 

Department by Gen. Fremont ; and, on the 1st of Sep- 
tember, Grant was ordered by the latter to Cairo. 

Cairo is situated at the southern extremity of Ilhnois, 
on a tongue of land which thrusts itself out exactly 
where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet, a hundred 
and seventy-five miles below St. Louis. It is within 
striking distance of tlie five States of Ilhnois, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. It is said, that, 
in the first consultation that Gen. Scott had with the 
cabinet at the opening of the war, he placed his finger 
on the map at Cairo, and spoke of it as in every way 
one of the most important places in the country to the 
military power of the United States. 

Paducah was on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, at 
the mouth of the Tennessee River. Kentucky at this 
time had a rebel for governor, by the name of Beriali 
Mafoffin. It was evident from the first that the border 
States, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee, would be 
the first battle-ground for the Union. The rebels in the 
two latter did not dare attempt to carry them at once 
over to secession ; but their policy was to talk " armed 
neutrality." The " sacred soil of old Kentucky must not 
be invaded by the troops of cither party." These fine 
words were to be used until they could be carried boldly 
into the Rebellion. But, in the war for the Union, there 
could be no " neutrality" for any State, least of all for 
States which held the ashes of Andrew Jackson and 
Henry Clay. Every State and every man was either 
for the Union or agamst it. 

The Legislature of Kentucky was for the Union by a 
large majority. On his arrival at Cairo, Grant had tel- 
egraphed to them that a rebel force had entered Ken- 



Attack on Fort Sumter. 17 

tucky. Gov. Harris of Tennessee telegraphed, " it had 
been done witliout his consent;" "President Davis 
would order their withdrawal ; " " Gen. Polk would with- 
draw them." But Grant preferred to trust his soldiers 
rather than Jeff". Davis, Beriah Magoffin, or Gen. Bishop 
Leonidas Polk ; and accordingly took possession of Padu- 
cah the next morning with two regiments and a battery. 
He found the rebel flag flying in all directions, rations 
and army supplies in great quantities (among the latter 
a lar^e amount of leather^ of which Grant considered 
himself an excellent judge) ; and he appropriated all for 
the use of the United-States troops. He issued the fol- 
lowing proclamation to the inhabitants : — 

Paducah, Ky., Sept. 6, 1861. 
To THE Citizens of Paducah, — 

/ have come among you, not as an enemy, but as your fellow-citi- 
zen ; not to maltreat or annoy you, but to respect and enforce the 
rights of all loyal citizens. An enemy in rebellion against our 
common government has taken possession of, and planted its guns 
on, the soil of Kentucky, and fired upon you. Columbus and Hick- 
man are in his hands. He is moving upon your city. I am here 
to defend you against this enemy, to assist the authority and sove- 
reignty of your government. I have nothing to do with opinions. I 
shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abetters. You 
can pursue your usual avocations without fear. The strong arm 
of the government is here to protect its friends, and punish its 
enemies. AVhenever it is manifest that you are able to defend 
yourselves, and maintain the authority of the governineut, and pro- 
tect the rights of loyal citizens, I shall withdraw the forces under 

my command. 

U. S. Grant, Brig.-Gen. commanding. 

The tone of this proclamation was admirable, and 
represented the spirit of the Union people : " I have 
come among you, not as an enemy ; " "I am here to 
2 



18 Life of General Grant. 

assist the authority and sovereignty of your govern- 
ment." 

In the camp at Cairo, it was noticed that Grant made 
no disphiy of bright buttons and shoulder-straps, plumes 
and gold-lace. Instead of the regulation -hat with the 
gold cord and acorns, he generally wore a citizen's com- 
mon felt hat and a blue blouse. He put on none of the 
airs, and made none of the pretensions, of httle greatness. 
A few of the soldiers, who had been in Mexico, were re- 
minded of Gen. Taylor, " Old Rough and Ready," wdio, 
when a Mexican officer of high rank Avas suddenly an- 
nounced at his headquarters, found himself in an old 
brown linen coat and straw hat, and had to dive down to 
the bottom of his trunk, and search some time, before he 
could find the elegant coat, sash, and chapeau of a 
major-general, which the army regulations required him 
to wear. 

Rev. J. L. Crane, the chaplain of the regiment of 
which Grant was colonel, thus writes of camp-life at 
this time : — 



" Grant is about five feet ten inches in height, and will weigh 
a hundred and forty or forty-five pounds. He has a countenance 
indicative of reserve, and an indomitable will and persistent pur- 
pose. 

" In dress he is indifferent and careless, making no pretensions 
to style or fashionable military display. Had he continued colonel 
till now, i think his uniibrm would have lasted till this day ; fur 
he never used it except on dress-parade, and then seemed to regard 
it a good deal as David did Saul's armor. 

" ' His body is a vial of intense existence ; ' and yet, when a 
stranger would see him in a crowd, he would never think of asking 
his name. He is no dissembler. He is a sincere, thinking, real 
man. He is always cheerful. No toil, cold, heat, hunger, fatigue, 



Attack on Fort Sumter. 19 

or want of money, depresses him. He does his work at the time^ 
and he requires all under his command to be equally prompt. 
This promptness is one of Grant's charateristics, and it is one of 
the secrets of his success. 

" On one of our marches, when passing through one of those 
small towns where the grocery is the principal establishment, some 
of the lovers of intoxication had broken away fi-om our lines, and 
filled their canteens with whiskey, and were soon reehng and un- 
governable under its influence. Wliile apparently stopping the 
regiment for rest, Grant passed quietly along, and took each canteen, 
and, wherever he detected the fatal odor, emptied the Uquor on the 
ground with as much nonchalance as he would empty his pipe. 
On this point, his orders were imperative : no whiskey nor intoxi- 
cating beverages were allowed in his camp. 

" Grant belongs to no church ; yet he entertains and expresses 
the highest esteem for all the enterprises that tend to promote 
religion. When at home, he generally attended the Methodist- 
Episcopal Church. "While he was colonel of the Twenty-first Regi- 
ment, he gave every encouragement and facility for securing a 
prompt and uniform observance of religious services ; and was 
generally found in the audience listening to the preaching. 

" Shortly after I came into the regiment, oiu- mess were one 
day taking theu' usual seats around the dinner-table, when he 
remarked, — 

" ' Chaplain, when 1 was at home, and ministers were stopping 
at my house, I always invited them to ask a blessing at the table. 
I suppose a blessing is as much needed here as at home ; and, if 
it is agreeable with your views, I should be glad to have you ask 
a blessing every time we sit down to eat.' " 

Reconnoissances and skirmishes took place occasion- 
ally ; and prisoners were taken, concerning the exchange 
of whom the following correspondence took place with 
or-Gen. Polk : — 



To THE CoMMA^■DI^'G Officer at Cairo and Bird's Poixt,— 

I have in my camp a niunber of prisoners of the Federal army, 
and am informed there are prisoners belonging to the Missouri 



20 . Life op General Grant. 

State troops in yours. I propose an exchange of these prisoners, 
and for that pui'pose send Capt. Polk of the artillery, and Lieut. 
Smith of the infantry, both of the Confederate-States anny, with 
a flag of truce, to deliver to you this communication, and to know 
your pleasure in regard to my proposition. The princij^les recog- 
nized in the exchange of prisoners effected on the 3d of Septem- 
ber, between Brig.-Gen. Pillow of the Confederate army, and Col. 
Wallace of the United- States army, are those I propose as the basis 
of that now contemplated. 

Respectfully yom- obedient servant, 

L. Polk, Major-Gen. commanding. 

This is an innocent-soundino; letter : but Gen. Grant 
was not to be entrapped into recognizing any Southern 
Confederacy, or conceding the rights of belhgerents, by 
an exchange of prisoners ; and returned the following 
answer, showing himself thoroughly acquainted with 
the legal bearings of the points in discussion : — 

General, — Yours of this date is just received. In regard to 
an exchange of prisoners, as proposed, I can, of my own accordance, 
make none. I recognize no Southern Confederacy myself, but will 
communicate with higher authorities for their views. Should I 
not be sustained, I will find means of communicating with you. 
Respectfully your obedient servant, 

U. S. Gkant, Brig.-Gen. commanding. 
To Major-Gen. Polk, Columbus, Ky. 

The rebels were gathering troops and supplies in 
great force at Columbus, on the Kentucky shore of the 
Mississippi, below Cairo, and sending them across the 
river, through Belmont, to the rebel Gen. Price in 
Missouri. 

Grant had several times suggested an attack on 
Columbus. Finally, on the evening of the Gth of 



Battle of Belmont. 21 

November, Grant embarked for a reconnoissance with 
2,850 men upon four transports, convoyed by the gun- 
boats " Tyler " and " Lexington,'' and dropped down to 
Island No. 1, eleven miles above Columbus. Early the 
next morning, the troops were landed at Hunter's Point, 
on the Missouri shore, and marched about three miles 
to Belmont. Grant had no purpose to hold Belmont, 
which is on low ground, and every inch of it commanded 
by the rebel guns on the right bluff at Columbus oppo- 
site. His design Avas to stir up the rebels, scatter their 
camp, and capture the munitions. The rebel camp was 
in an open space, protected by fallen trees. 

The line of battle was formed with Col. Fouke in the 
centre, Col. Buford on the right, and Col. Logan on 
the left. These divisions advanced together, each con- 
tending for the honor of first planting the stars and 
stripes in the rebel camp. The fight was very severe 
for about four hours. Grant was in advance with the 
skirmish-line, and had his horse shot under him. But 
the Union troops drove the enemy foot by foot, and from 
tree to tree, back to their encam])ment. 

There were about 6,000 rebels. At last. Grant or- 
dered a charge ; and his whole force, now less than half 
the number of rebels, with loud cheers, drove the ene- 
my, at the point of the bayonet, through their camps ; and 
thousands took refuge on their transports on the river's 
edge. The troops, some of whom had never been 
armed as soldiers until three days before, flushed with 
victory, gave themselves up to rejoicing. OflScers began 
making stump-speeches for the Union. There were no 
wagons to move the captured property ; and the rebel 
tents were fired, consuming their blankets and all their 
camp-equipage. 



22 Life of General Grant. 

Major-Gen. Polk, who commanded at Columbus, 
opposite, had now decided that something must be 
done. The heavy fire from the guns which he had 
brought to bear had not stopped the victorious advance 
of Grant. He accordingly sent over three regiments 
under Gen. Pillow, and three more under Gen. Cheat- 
ham. The latter were landed between our troops and 
their boats to cut off their retreat. Grant had observed 
these movements, and had commenced his retui-n-march 
to re-embark with his men disorganized by their victory. 
When the troops met in the woods the soldiers of Cheat- 
ham, they shouted, " We are surrounded ! " and were 
thrown into confusion. A raw ofliicer, in much excite- 
ment, made the announcement to Grant : — 

" General, we are surrounded. What can we do ? " 

" Cut our way out, sir, as we cut our way in," said 
Grant. 

To some of the soldiers, who seemed to think them- 
selves captured. Grant said, "We whipped them once, 
and we can whip them again.'' 

Grant, here and always, acted on the principle so Avell 
expressed by an Irish soldier in the Ninth ^Massachusetts, 
who on one occasion, after being informed several times, 
by a comrade at his side, that they were defeated, at 
last shouted impatiently, " Niver b'leive y're whipped, 
man, till y're whipped yourself! " 

Logan, who afterwards became so distinguished, 
placed the colors in front, and moved at once upon 
the enemy.* 

* Hon. John A. Logan was a Douglas Democrat, a member of Congress 
from Illinois, at the opening of the war. On the day of the first battle at 
Bull Run, he rode down from Washington as a visitor, but, on reaching the 



Battle of Belmont. 23 

The figlit was fiu'ious ; but the old flag steadily ad- 
vanced, and by five o'clock in the afternoon, our troops, 
having driven the enemy before them, reached their 
boats. 

While the troops were embarking, Grant sent out a 
detachment to brino; in the wounded. He had posted 
a battalion in the morning as a reserve, who, when 
they saw the main body returning, thought it proper 
for them to return also without special order. They 
had done so, and without reporting to any one, — so little 
were our citizen-soldiers then accustomed to military 
forms. They could fight and die for the good cause ; 
but military experience they did not possess. Grant, 
supposing them still in position, rode back, with only a 
sino-le member of his staff, to order their return. Sud- 
denly he came upon the whole rebel line, now re-formed 
to advance, and not fifty yards distant. He was an 
excellent mark for the rebel sharpshooters ; but he 
stopped, looked at the situation, then turned his horse, 
and rode slowly back to avoid an appearance of haste. 
Gen. Polk, who had seen him, called to his men, 
" There is a Yankee, if you want to tiy your aim ! " 
But the bullet destined to kill Grant was not there; 
and he rode slowly back until nearing the boats, when 
the leaden rain hurried his horse into a gallop ; the 
animal fairly sliding down the river's bank on his 
haunches. 

A plank was quickly thrown out from one of the 
boats, over which he trotted his horse ; the balls now 

field, borrowed !i rifle, asked pei-mission to join a Michigan regiment, and 
fought in its niiik.« throughout the da}'. He is now Grand Commander of 
the Army of the Republic. 



24 Life op General Grant. 

flying around him in all directions. The transports 
moved off towards Cairo ; and the gunboats, by way 
of farewell, opened on the rebel force, now thronging 
the shore, Math grape, canister, and five-second shells, 
which scattered them with terrible slaughter. The 
Federal loss was about four hundred men. The Rebel 
force was about seven thousand : their loss, as admitted 
by Pollard, was about seven hundred killed, and one 
hundred and seventy-five more taken prisoners. 

The battle was of much importance : it gave our 
fresh recruits confidence in themselves and in their 
leader. One incident in connection with this battle 
shows the nature of civil wars, which place friend 
against friend. Col. Wright of Tennessee, and Col. 
Fouke, had been friends in Congress. When they sepa- 
rated at Washington the preceding spring, Wright 
said, " Fouke, I expect our next meeting will be on the 
battle-field." They parted : one followed the flag of 
treason ; the other, the flag of his country. Their next 
meetino; was on the field of Belmont, where Wright 
was killed, and sixty of his men taken prisoners by 
Col. Fouke's regiment. 

The next day, the followihg order was read to the 
troops : — 

The general comiiiaiuUng this military district returns his 
thanks 'to the troops under his command at the battle of Behuont 
on yesterday. 

It has been his fortune to have been in all the battles fought in 
Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista ; and he 
never saw one more hotly contested, or where troops behaved with 
more gallantry. 

Such courage will insure victory whercAer oiu- flag may be 
borne and protected by such a class of men. 



Battle of Belmont. 25 

To the hrave who fell the !<ympathij of the country is due, and will 
be manifested in a manner unmistakable. 

U. S. Grant, Brhj.-Gen. commanding. 

The same day, Grant wrote a private letter to his 
father, giving an account of the battle, from which the 
followino; extracts are taken ; — 

" Tlie wliole command, with the exception of a small reserve, 
was then deployed in like manner, and ordered forward. The 
order was obeyed with great alacrity ; the men all showing great 
courage. I can say with great gratification, that every colonel, 
without a single exception, set an example to their commands, 
that inspired a confidence that will always insure victory when 
there is the slightest possibility of gaining one. I feel truly 
proud to command such men. 

" The object of the expedition was to prevent the enemy from 
sending a force into Missouri to cut off troops I had sent there 
for a special purpose, and to prevent re-enforcing Price. 

" Besides being well fortified at Columbus, their nimibers far 
exceeded ours ; and it would have been folly to have attacked 
them. We found the Confederates well armed and brave. On 
our return, stragglers that had been left in our rear (now front) 
fired into us, and more recrossed the river, and gave us battle for 
a full mile, and afterwards at the boats when we were em- 
barking. 

" There was no hasty retreating or running away. Taking 
into account the object of the expedition, the victory was complete. 
It has given us confidence in the officers and men of this com- 
mand, that will enable us to lead them in any future engage- 
ment, without fear of the result." 

Much importance had been attached at the War 
Department to retaining the recruits in camps, and 
making no movements until they had been thoroughly 



2G Life of General Grant. 

drilled and manoeuvred : but, after the battle of 
Belmont, Grant always entertained and acted on the 
opinion that such delay was useless ; that, where both 
parties are inexperienced, nothing is gained by delay. 



CHAPTER III. 



FORT HENRY. 



ON the 31st of August, Fremont issued his cele- 
brated order, declaring the slaves of rebels free 
men, as follows : — 

" Tlic property, real and personal, of all persons in the State 
of jMissouri who shall take up arms against the United States, or 
shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their ene- 
mies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use ; 
and their slaves, if any they have, are declared to be fvee men." 

This was a blow aimed directly at the very heart of 
the Rebellion. Fremont was born in South Carolina^ 
and knew slavery thoroughly. But the country was 
not ready for this. The Union must be preserved ; but 
slavery must not be harmed. President Lincoln di- 
rected the withdrawal of the order. Fremont request- 
ed that this should be done by the commander-in-chief; 
and Mr. Lincoln accordingly overruled it. Three 
years more of war and suflFering were required before 
it w^as seen that God had his purposes in this civil 
conflict; and one of these was to " let the oppressed go 
free." 

Two days after the battle of Belmont, Nov. 0, Gen. 
Fremont was superseded by Gen. H. W. Ilalleck, 

27 



28 Life of General Grant, 

who soon after Issued his equally celebrated Order 
No. 3, excluding " vmauthorlzed persons " from enter- 
ing the army-lines. It was as follows : — 

"It lias been represented that important information respect- 
ing the number of our forces is conveyed to the enemy by means 
of fugitive shi-\'es who are admitted within our lines. In order to 
remedy this evil, it is dii-ected that no such persons be hereafter 
permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the 
march ; that any now within such lines be immediately excluded 
therefrom. No fugitive slaves will therefore be admitted within 
our lines or camps, except when especially ordered by the general 
commanding." 

The Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland, 
are the only rivers which were navigable from the 
southern lines of the free States into the States in 
rebellion. 

The rebels had, with great foresiglit, stretched a 
strategic line east from Columbus, on the ^Mississippi, 
which had been strongly fortified, two hundred miles to 
Bowling Green, in tlie centre of Kentucky ; crossing 
both the two last-named rivers at a right angle. Bowl- 
ing Green was -at tlie junction of the Memphis and 
Ohio and Louisville and Nashville Railroads. 

About the centre of this line, near the boundary of 
Kentucky and Tennessee, the Cumberland and Ten- 
nessee Ri^'ers approach within twelve miles of each 
other. Here the rebels had erected two strong forts 
with great skill and labor, — Fort Donelson on the 
Cumberland, Fort Henry on the Tennessee. But the 
forts were south of Colmnbus and Bowling Green ; so 
that these strongholds must both be evacuated when 
the forts were taken. 



Fort Henry. 29 

Grant perceived all this, of course, but had been 
required for two months to drill and organize his men. 
Late in January, 1862, he visited St. Louis in person 
to obtain permission to take these forts ; but the plan 
was not entertained. After his return, Grant tele- 
graphed to St. Louis, Jan. 28, " With permission, I 
will take and hold Fort Henry on the Tennessee, and 
establish and hold a large camp there." On the same 
day, Com. Foote, commanding the gunboats in that 
region, by a happy coincidence telegraphed as fol- 
lows : — 

Cairo, Jan. 28, 1862. 
Major-Gen. H. W. ILvlleck, St. Louis, Mo., commanding, — 

Gen. Grant and myself are of opinion that Fort Henry, on the 
Tennessee River, can be carried with four iron-clad gunboats, and 
troops to permanently occup}-. Have we your authority to move 
for that purpose when ready ? 

A. II. FoOTE, Flag-Officer. 

The reader can judge whether Gen. Grant requested 
Foote to send this despatch in aid of his request. 

Permission to move arrived on the 1st of February. 
The next day. Grant had left Cairo with seventeen 
thousand men on transports, accompanied by Foote 
with several gunboats. They sailed up the Ohio to 
the mouth of the Tennessee, then up the latter to 
within about eijrht miles of the fort where Gen. 
McClernand had selected a landing ; but Grant him- 
self pushed up the river on one of the gunboats to 
draw the fire from the fort and ascertain the range of 
their guns, which he satisfictorily learned by a thirty- 
two-pound shot passing through the boat. 

He now determined to move his troops four miles up 



30 Life of General Grant. 

the river, to Bailey's Feny ; and there they debarked. 
Both sides of the river were found to be fortified. 
The principal works were on the east side. A bas- 
tioned* front, with seventeen heavy gun embrasures, 
had been formed with sand-bags on the parapets be- 
tween the guns. On the land-front, there was a camp 
protected by a commanding line of rifle-pits, filled by 
Western sharpshooters. The fort enclosed about three 
acres. There were about three thousand rebel troops, 
under Brig-Gen. Tilghman. 

McClernand was ordered to move at eleven o'clock 
on the 6th to the rear of Fort Henry, on the road to 
Fort Donelson, to cut off retreat and re-enforcements. 
Gen. Smith was to seize Fort Heiman on the west 
bank of the river ; and the gunboats were to advance in 
two lines, and attack from the river. 

Com. Foote well knew that thousands of troops could 
not march as ra})idly as his boats could steam up the 
river, and was by no means unwilling to do the princi- 
pal part of the bloody work before the land-force could 
arrive. Unlike Atlantis, who lingered in the race that 
she might be overtaken by her lover, Foote, emulous 
of glory, secretly rejoiced that he could not be over- 
taken or passed by the army ; and at the last moment, 
unable to conceal his antici])ated success, he said to 
Grant, with a smile and bright twinkle in his eye, '' I 
shall take Fort Henry before the troops arrive." 

The little fleet was composed of "• The Cincinnati," 

* Bastion, a projecting part of the main fort. Embrasure, an opening 
in a parapet for cannon. Parapet, a breastwork for covering soldiers. 
Mine, a cavity under a fort, filled witli powder. Trench, an excavation 
made to cover troops advancing in a siege. Parallel, a wide trench for 

comniuuication between batteries. Moat, a canal aronnd a fort. 



Fort Henry. 31 

" Essex," " Carondelet," " St. Louis," " Concstoga," 
" Tyler," and " Lexington," — the first three iron-clads, 
the last Avooden vessels. They engaged the forts at six 
hundred yards, opening a terrific cannonade, which was 
continued fiar nearly an hour with unabated fury. But 
the gallant commodore had ordered the men to "aim 
carefully," "fire steadily," and to "make every shot 
tell ; " and they did. At last, a twenty-eight-pound 
shot struck " The Essex " in a weak spot, and pierced 
her boiler. In an instant, the vessel was filled with 
scalding steam, kilhng and wounding nearly forty men ; 
among them Capt. W. D. Porter and both pilots. For 
a moment, the scene on board was appalling. The 
little vessel trembled in every timber, and now, struck 
in a vital part, like a strong man pierced in the heart, 
drifted slowly out of the fight. The rebels, thinking 
the attack repulsed, now made the welkin ring with 
their shouts. But the remaining vessels continued 
their 'fire, as if determined to lift the fort, and ground 
Avliich held it, bodily from the earth. In an hour and 
fifteen minutes the white flag was seen, upon which a 
boat was lowered; and soon the national ensign- was 
raised over this stronghold of treason amid long-con- 
tinued cheers. The short time within which the fort 
had been captured was a surprise to both Foote and 
Grant. The troops had been compelled to march eight 
miles around, through muddy roads, cutting their way 
through the woods, building bridges across several 
streams ; and were unable to arrive until nearly an hour 
after Tilghman's surrender. This delay had permitted 
most of the garrison to escape. Gen. Tilghman, eleven 
on his staff, seventy men, sixteen invalids, barracks and 



32 Life of General Grant. 

tents for fifteen thousand soldiers, were captured. Grant 
instantly sent forward his cavalry on the road to Fort 
Donelson ; but they took only twenty or thirty men 
and a few guns. 

That Foote should at once have all the honor he de- 
served, Grant immediately telegraphed to Halleck, " Fort 
Henry is ours ! The gunboats silenced the batteries before 
the investment was completed. I shall take and destroy 
Fort Donelson on the 8th, and return to Fort Henry." 
The read&r will remember that he had only asked per- 
mission to attack Fort Henry ; no allusion being made 
to Fort Donelson. And Foote, with the same spirit, 
reported as follows: "The plan of the* attack, so far 
as the army reaching the rear of the fort to make a 
demonstration simultaneously with the navy, was frus- 
trated by the excessively muddy roads and the high stage 
of the water preventing the arrival of our troops until 
some time after I had taken possession of the fort." * 

Grant, although he had received no orders tO that 
effect, determined to move at once upon Fort Donelson, 
and ordered his entire force to be " ready to march by 
daylight " the next day. But the windows of heaven 
opened, and the floods came ; the streams were rivers, 
the roads mires ; the ground seemed turned into swamps. 

The gunboats had steamed up into the interior as far 
as Florence, Ala., some two hundred miles, and within 
two hundred and fifty miles of Montgomery, the capital 
of the so-called Confederacy. The novel sight drew the 
inhabitants to the river by thousands. Men, women, 
and children lined the shores; and the old flag was 
often saluted with loud huzzas, and tears of joy. 

* Foote's Report. 



Fort Henry. 33 

Some of the scenes among tlie people were referred 
to m tlie following lines published at the time : — 

"Massal Massa ! Hallelujah! 

The flag's come back to Tennessee I " 

" Pompey, hold me on your shoulder, 
Help me stand on foot once more, 
That I may salute the colors 

As they pass my cabin-door, 
Plere's the paper signed that frees you; 
Give a freeman's shout with me : 
. * God and Union ' be our watchword 
Evermore in Tennessee 1 " 



CHAPTER IV. 

CAPTURE OF FOKT DONELSON. 

ON the lOtli of February, Grant wrote to Foote, " I 
have been waiting very patiently for the return of 
the gunboats under Com. Phelps, to go around on the 
Cumberland, whilst I march my land-forces across to 
make a simultaneous attack upon Fort Donelson." 

It was six days before the army could be moved. 
Fort Donelson was a far more formidable place than 
Fort Henry. It enclosed nearly a hundred acres, on a 
bluff a hundred feet high. It was defended by sixty-five 
guns, among them a ten-inch Columbiad, sixty-four and 
thirty-two pounders, water-batteries on the river, and 
on land felled timbers breast-high, — the whole garri- 
soned by about twenty-one thousand men. It was one 
of the strongest works in the South or North. 

Generals Buckner, Pillow, and Floyd were in com- 
mand. 

After the fall of Fort Henry, the men had worked 
day and night to enlarge and render the works impreg- 
nable. Its importance to the Confederacy was well 
understood by the rebel government. It was the key to 
Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. It had been made 
a large depot of supplies ; and its fall woidd compel the 
evacuation of Bowling Green, which had even then 

34 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 35 

been partially weakened to re-enforce Donelson, so im- 
portant was it deemed to hold the latter at all hazards. 

On the morning of the 12th, the army began its 
march: the bands played patriotic airs, the flags danced 
in the smilight, and the men were determined to con- 
quer or die. Grant carried no tents or baggage; he took 
only bullets, guns, and rations ; he threw up no intrench- 
ments ; his picks were pickets ; his spades were those 
described as having been used in the bui'ial of Sir John 
Moore on the Heights of Coruiia, — 

" We buried liim doa-kly at dead of night, 
The sods with our haijoncts turning." 

The exact number of the rebels was then unknown ; 
and, after giving directions as fully as possible, Grant 
added in his field-order, in regard to the details of the 
attack, '•'■The necessary orders will he given on the field. ''^ 

Gen. C. F. Smith had the left, and Gen J. A. Mc- 
Clernand had the right, of the national line, which was 
gradually extended to nearly three miles in length, in 
the form of a crescent. 

The men bivouacked in line of battle with their 
arms in their hands, and were constantly under fire 
from the rebel breastworks. Many of the men had 
thoughtlessly thrown away their blankets. No fires 
could be lighted ; and near daylight there was a severe 
snow-storm. Through the night, the rebels dropped 
shells frequently over our lines ; and the suffering of our 
troops was very great. 

Before daylight, on Friday the 14th, the welcome 
sound of the gunboats Avas heard on the river, and 
Com. Foote arrived with four ironclads and two wooden 



36 Life of General Grant. 

gunboats. At three o'clock in the afternoon, they 
moved up to within four hundred yards of the heaviest 
guns of the fort. There, until halt-past four, they main- 
tained a most unequal fight. The elevation and num- 
ber of the rebel guns, their great weight of metal, both 
from the fort and the water-batteries, placed the boats 
at a 2;reat disadvantage. At last, the wheel of " The St. 
Louis " and the tiller of" The Louisville " were shot away, 
and they were rendered useless ; a rifled gun exploded 
upon another boat ; " The Carondelet " received a 120- 
pounder in one of her forward ports ; Com. Foote was 
wounded ; and the disabled fleet was compelled to fall 
back out of the range of the guns. 

Grant then wrote, " Appearances now are that w^e 
shall have a protracted siege here. ... I fear the result 
of an attempt to carry the place by storm with new 
troops. I feel great confidence, however, of ultimately 
reducing the place." 

Anothernightof piercing wind, snow, and sleet, came 
down upon the devoted soldiers. 

No regrets were heard, no impatience manifested. 
They only seemed eager for the hour when they could 
show traitors how brave men could fight and die for the 
land they loved. Grant seemed omnipresent. Without 
food or sleep he was everywhere, and yet appeai'ed to be 
exactly at the place where required at the proper moment. 

At two o'clock at night, he received the following 
note from the wounded commodore : — 

Flagship " St. Louis," Feb. 14, 1SG2. 
Gen. Gr^vnt, commanding United-States Forces. 

Dear Gkneral, — Will you do me the flivor to come on board 
at your earliest convenience? As I am disabled from walking, 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 37 

from a contusion, I cannot possibly get to see you about tbe dis- 
position of tliese vessels, all of which are more or less disabled. 

A. S. FooTE, Fhi(j-(J[jicer. 

The rebels, seeing the gunboats retire, were greatly 
encouraged, and determnied to move out early Satur- 
day morning, drive back the Union line, overwhelm 
Grant's army, and win one of the greatest victories of 
the war. 

At daylight, Floyd massed his troops heavily on the 
left, who advanced under Gen. Pillow against Mc- 
Arthur's brigade, on our extreme right, where our hue 
was thin and weakest. They came on with a daring 
and bravery worthy of a better cause ; and for two 
hours the fighting was terrific. At this time, two or 
three of our regiments were broken, and one or two 
more were out of ammunition ; and the Union line 
wavered. Gen. McClernand sent word back that Buck- 
ner had joined Pillow, and he should be destroyed 
unless re-enforced. 

Gen. W. H. L. Wallace, who commanded the centre, 
now advanced to his support, accompanied by Logan. 
Both were fearless, and both were magnetic men, who 
inspired their soldiers with their own indomitable spirit. 
They and their troops fought with a courage which 
drew forth the admu-ation of their enemies. But one 
regiment, misdirected by a guide, took the wrong road, 
and was delayed ; the ammunition was getting short ; 
and, after long and heavy fighting, the whole right wing 
had been pushed back by the furious and long-continued 
assaults of the rebel columns. 

Until this time. Grant had been in consultation with 
Foote, on the gunboat, three or four miles distant. 



38 Life of General Grant. 

He was now returning, and was met by an aide on full 
gallop to inform him of the state of affairs. Soon after, 
he met Gen. C. F. Smith, and decided that the rebels 
had probably massed almost their whole force for the 
attack ao-ainst McClernand and Wallace. The battle 
was thouo;ht to be lost. So it was at Mareno;o. " I see 
the battle is lost," said Dessaix to Napoleon as he arrived 
on the field. " I suppose I can do no more than secure 
your retreat." — "By no means," replied Napoleon: 
" the battle is gained. Charge with your columns. 
The disabled troops will rally in your rear." 

Grant immediately ordered Gen. Smith on our left, 
wdio had not been engaged, to hold himself ready to 
advance with his whole force against the rebel rio-ht. 
He also sent back the following note to Foote, who 
had advised him to fortify, and wait until the fleet 
could be repaired and return : " A terrible conflict en- 
sued in my absence, which has demoralized a portion 
of my command. I think the enemy is much more so. 
If the gunboats do not appear, it will re-assure the en- 
emy, and still further demoralize our troops. Must 
order a charge to save appearances. I do not expect 
the fjunboats to go into action." 

The men were getting weary and exhausted with the 
fatigue and prodigious efforts of the last few days and 
nights. Grant always had a theory, that there comes a 
time like this in every hard-fought battle, when tired 
nature begins to yield, and that whichever party 
rallies and attacks at this time wins. But for two or 
three days to look over . a field of a hundred thousand 
men, and amid the din, roar, and confusion of a battle, to 
weigh as in the hollow of the hand the rising and falling 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 39 

entliusiasm of the contending hosts, and then, with un- 
erring judgment, to select the one auspicious moment 
which leads to victory, — this is given only to the few 
great soldiers in the world's history. And then the 
fixed purpose, the unconquerable will to do or die, to 
scorn the weakness of the flesh, must always be there ; 
and they were there. 

It was noticed that the rebels had put on their knap- 
sacks and haversacks, instead of leaving them In the 
fort; and some of our troops near Grant spoke of 
this, and said, " They have come out to stay for a battle 
of several daj's." 

" Are the haversacks filled, or empty ? " said Grant. 
No one could answer. 

" Examine some of the prisoners," said he. 

"They are filled; they have three days' rations," 
was the report. 

" Nothins is little in the world," said Dr. Johnson, 
"to him who properly understands it." 

As soon as the report was made, Grant said, " Then 
they are trying to cut their way out : they do not mean 
to stay and fight. Whoever attacks now wins. They'll 
be quick if they beat me." 

And, dashing his spurs into his horse's flanks, he gal- 
loped off to Smith's division on the left, occasionally 
explaining to the officers and men as he passed, " They 
are Avhipped ; they are fighting to be allowed to retreat." 
He explained briefly, that he wished to attack them on 
their weakened right. It was thus Napoleon on the 
morning of Austerlitz, in almost the only instance in 
his life, explained to the French soldiers his plan of 
attacking the Russian centre on the Heights of Prutzen. 



40 Life of General Grant. 

Grant knew well that his bayonets reasoned ; that 
American soldiers could think as well as fight, and 
would understand and appi'eciate this confidence. He 
knew the war was a war of ideas, and that the seri- 
ous, intelligent convictions of men would carry them 
through a forlorn hope, or into a deadly breach spouting 
with fire, where the mere martial ardor of a military 
machine would quail to follow. Hamlet said, " Con- 
science makes cowards of us all; " but " conscience also 
makes heroes of us all." * 

Grant now ordered Smith to advance, at the same 
time sending word to McClernand and Wallace to close 
up and be ready to attack. The men rallied ; the weary 
and the lao-o-ard in the rear came forward ; wounds were 
forgotten ; all caught the spirit of their leader. 

Gen. Smith was a veteran soldier : he had followed 
the stars and stripes through the battles of Mexico to 
" the halls of the Montezumas." He was a man sixty 
years old, his hair white as the snow on the ground. As 
he rode down his line, forming his division for the attack, 
he was a fine target for the rebel rifles : but the bullets 
showered unnoticed about him. His column was formed 
of Lauman's brigade ; the Second Iowa infantry having 
the front, followed by the Seventh, Fourteenth, and 
Twenty-fifth Indiana. He also told the soldiers what 
was to be done. This reciprocal confidence between 
the general and his soldiers was like that of a father 
and his sons ; and the enthusiasm of the soldiers was 
imbounded. As he took his place to lead the advance, 
his colors by his side, years seemed to drop fi'om him 
like a mantle. Those near him said his countenance 

* Coleridge. 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 41 

blazed with the fire of youth : he was young agahi. Put- 
ting his cap on the point of his sword, he flung it toward 
the rebel intrenchmcnts, and dashed forward into the 
thickest of the fifrlit. So Marlborough, with a soldier's 
ardor, flung his marshal's baton over the French lines, 
sure of recovering it again. 

Nothing could withstand the onset. ^Vithout firing a 
gun, they charged directly on the intrenchmcnts, carried 
them at the point of the bayonet, and forced their way 
to the summit of a hill, where artillery could be planted, 
and which was the key to the fort.* Wallace, too, had 
regained his lost ground, and driven Buckner back 
to within a hundred and fifty yards of his intrench- 
mcnts. 

Night now settled down on the field, with a battle 
undecided. Smith, maintaining his commanding posi- 
tion, in vain protested that one half-hour more of day- 
light would give us the victory. 

How many men, on how many battle-fields, have 
coveted tlie power of Joshua of old, — to stay the sun 
in the heavens ! 

Both parties had now been nearly four days and 
nights under arms, and with almost continuous fighting. 
Some even had slept as they stood in line of battle, as 
McDowell, completely overcome, had dropped to sleep 
while writing in the telegraph-office his despatch to 
Washington after the first battle of Bull Run. 

And now the living lay down with the wounded, the 
dying, and the dead. Smith, wrapped in his cloak, 
rested among his men on the frozen ground. 

Grant found shelter in a negro hut. Here, during 

* McPhcrson's Report. 



42 Life of General Grant. 

the night, a fugitive slave who had escaped throiifh 
the rebel linSs made his way to him to tell liim that the 
enemy were retreating across the river, and desired to 
give liim an account of their condition and the posi- 
tion of their forces. Grant was still under Halleck. 
Orders No. 3 and No. 13 were his military law : 
" Unauthorized persons must not be admitted within 
our lines." Shoukl Grant admit the man, and talk 
with him, or read Order No. 3, call the guard, and 
have him arrested and sent back to his owner ? One 
thing was not then, and is not now, generally known. 
When the war opened, Mrs. Grant, through her father, 
owned three slaves in Missouri. Grant privately, with- 
out talk, in his o\vn right, issued three " emancipation 
proclamations," = — one to each slave, telling them to go 
free. ' This man was unauthorized by Order No. 3 to go 
to headquarters ; but he was authorized to go by a 
"higher law," and that was his hatred of slavery and the 
love of freedom which God has planted in the soul of 
every human being. When Nelson, in the battle of Co- 
penhagen, was told that his commander had signalled for 
him to take his ship out of action, he put his spyglass 
to his blind eye, and said, " I don't see it : fire 
away ! " Then, turning to an officer, he said, " I have 
a right to be blind sometimes." So Grant did not read 
or obey Order No. 3, but acted like a man of common 
sense, and received the fugitive, listened to his story, 
and questioned him carefully. One officer suggested 
that perhaps the fellow was lying, and had been sent to 
entrap Grant in some manner ; but the man said, — 

'' You may whip me, shoot me, cut me to pieces, if it 
ain't as I tells you." 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 43 

Within tlie fort a strange scene was enacting. Floyd 
called a council of war. The midnight conclave were 
to decide whether they should surrender, or renew the 
battle in the morning. Smith, at the south-west angle 
of the fort, could take other intrenchments in reverse. 
Buckner, opposite Smith's division, said he could not 
withstand any attack half an hour. It was evident they 
must surrender ; but now Floyd declared that ho would 
not do this. 

History delights to tell us of the wounded Cambrone 
at Waterloo, who shouted, in defeat, " The Guard 
dies, but never surrenders ! " "I can desert, but not 
surrender ! " would have been the more appro})riate 
exclamation of Floyd. This was a becoming episode 
in Floyd's history. He had been Secretary of War un- 
der James Buchanan, and had been guilty of a " finan- 
cial irregularity," by which the government had lost 
nearly nine hundred thousand dollars, — an operation 
for which, in England, he would have been furnished 
with a passage to Botany Bay at government ex- 
pense ; but, that Gov. Floyd might rival the citi- 
zens of that celebrated colony, he united treason to 
theft, and now added to these desertion to the flag he 
had chosen and the soldiers who had fought by his side. 

Gen. Pillow followed his example ; both declaring 
that " personal reasons controlled them ; " meaning, 
probably, the fear that they would be hung if they fell 
into the hands of the United States. Floyd turned 
his command over to Pillow, and Pillow to Gen. Buck- 
ner, who, like a soldier, had determined to share the 
fate of his men. He immediately sent a note in di[)lo- 
matic style to Grant, suggesting an armistice. With- 



44 Life of General Grant. 

out waiting an answer, Floyd and Pillow stole out in 
the dark, hoping to get on board a boat, unknown to 
the soldiers ; but the men had rumors of wliat their 
commanders were doing, and now crowded to the land- 
ing, where they greeted them with hisses and curses 
loud and deep.* 

A while after, with the first streak of daylight, as 
Grant was preparing to attack, a white flag was seen 
flying from the ramparts of Fort Donelson ; and Grant 
received the following letter under a flag of truce : — 

Headquarters, Fort Donelson, Feb. 18, 1862. 
Sir, — In consideration of all the cii-cumstances governing the 
present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the com- 
manding officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commis- 
sioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces I hold 
under my command ; and, in that view, suggest an armistice until 

twelve o'clock to-day. 

S. B. Bucii:xER, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. 

To Brig.-Gen. Grant, commanding U. S. Forces, Fort Donelson. 

But Grant had learned durino; the night the true 
state of affairs, and instantly replied as follows : — 

Headquarters, Army in the Field, 

Camp near Donelson, Feb. 14, 1862. 

To Gen. S. B. Buckner, Confederate Army, — 

Yours of this date, proi)osing an armistice, and appointment of 
comnussjoners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No 

* " Such was the want of all order and discipline by this time on shore, 
that a wild rush was made at the boat, which the captain said would swamp 
her unless he pushed off immediately. This was done; and about sunrise, 
the boat on which I was — the other having gone — left the shore. By this 
precise mode I eifected my escape ; and, after leavnig the wharf, the depart- 
ment willbephnsed to hear that I encountered no dangers ichntever from the 
enemi/.'" — Floyd''s Jiejxn't. 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 45 

terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be 
accepted. / propose to moce immediatebj upon your ivories. 
I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Uruj.-Gen. U. S. A. commanding. 

Gen. Buckner accepted these terms in the following 
reply : — 

Headquarters, Dover, Texn., Feb. 15, 1862. 
To Brig.-Gen. U. S. Grant, U. S. A. 

Sir, — Tlie distribution of forces under my command incident 
to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming 
force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the bril- 
liant success of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the 
ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose. 
I am, sir, your very obedient servant, 

S. B. BuciiNER, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. 

The results of this victory were sixty-five gnns, 
seventeen thousand six hundred small-arms, nearly 
fifteen thousand soldiers, with horses, mules, and army 
supplies. Our loss was about two thousand men. 

After the surrender, up went the stars and stripes, 
greeted by tumultuous cheers ; and the sun shone 
bright and warm as if to illumine the victory. 

As the different divisions marched into the works, 
their regimental banners from different States, the mu- 
sic, the loud huzzas, the proud steps of the victorious 
soldiers, made one of the grand historic pictures of the 
war. 

Gen. Grant made his headquarters upon a boat 
which happened to have the significant name of " New 
Uncle Sam ; " and it was in the cabin of this steamer 
that the formal surrender was made. 



46 Life of General Grant. 

The interview between Grant and Buckner was 
social. They had been classmates at West Point. 
Grant stated that he had no desire to humiliate the 
jn'isoners ; that the officers might retain their side- 
arms, but horses and public property must be given up. 
Gen. Buckner acknowledged that it had been the inten- 
tion of those in command to cut their way out ; but 
they were defeated by Grant's movements. 

When the transports were about to leave for the 
North with the rebel prisoners, Gen. Buckner asked 
Gen. Grant to visit his men, and, as they crowded 
around, told them that their victor had treated them 
with magnanimity and kindness. 

After a while, at a signal from Com. Foote, the boat 
with Gen. Grant and staff on board, followed by the 
gunboat " Flotilla," steamed up past the fort to Dover, 
all the guns firing the national salute. 

Gen. Grant issued the following congratulatory order 
to his troops : — 



HEADQUAETEnS, DISTRICT OF WeST TeXXESSEE, 

FoET DoNELSON, Feb. 14, 1862. 

The general commanding takes great pleasure in congratulat- 
ing tbe troops of tliis conunand for the triumph over rebellion, 
gained by their valor, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th instant. 

For, four successive nights, without shelter, during the most 
inclement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in 
large foi'ce, in a position chosen by himself. Though strongly 
fortified by nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by 
science were added. Without a murmur this was borne ; pre- 
pared at all times to receive an attack, and with continuous skir- 
mishing liy day, resulting, ultimately, in forcing the enemy to 
surrender without conditions. 

The victoiy acliieved is not only great in the effect it will have 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 47 

in breaking down rebellion, but has secured the gi-eatcst number 
of prisoners of Avar ever taken in any battle on this continent. 

Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map 
of our united country ; and the men who fought the battle will 
live iu the memory of a grateful people. 

U. S. Grant, Brir/.-Gen. commanding. 

Many interesting and amusing scenes occurred. It 
was here, on one of the transports laden with prison- 
ers, that probably the first slaveholders' objection to 
reconstruction was made. A tall, raw-boned, red- 
haired, blustering Mississippi captain had found that 
the hands on board the boat would not take his secesh 
paper for whiskey or food. When he could not control 
himself any longer, he rushed up to a Northern man, a 
stranger, who was conversing near him, and said, 

" Look here : this is a d d pretty business. They 

talk of reconstructing the Union, and begin by reject- 
ing our money ; and I can get nothing to eat." * It 
was evident to his mind that reconstruction must stop. 

Buckner, on meeting Smith, congratulated him on his 
splendid charge. "Yes," said the old soldier, "it was 
w^ell done, considering how small a force I had. But 
no congratulations are due to me : I simply obeyed 
orders." 

On the arrival of the news at Washington, Grant 
was immediately nominated as a major-general, and 
confirmed by the Senate the same day ; his commission 
being dated on the IGth, the day of the surrender ()f 
Fort Donelson. 

Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, published a letter, 
in which he spoke of the victory in the following 

* C. C. Coffin. 



48 Life of General Grant. 

terms : " We may well rejoice at tlie recent victories ; 
for thej teach us that battles are to be -won now, and by 
us, in the same and only manner that they M^ere ever 
won by any people, or in any age, since the days of 
Joshua, — by boldly pursuing and striking the foe. 
What, under the blessings of Providence, I conceive 
to be the true organization of victory and military 
combination to end this war, was declared in a few 
words by Gen. Grant's message to Gen. Buckner, — '•I 
propose to move immediately upon your u'07'ks.'' " 

Grant, who had spoken in the highest terms in his 
special report of " the brilliant charge of Gen. Smith," 
recommended him also for promotion to a major- 
generalcy ; and he was accordingly appointed, and 
confirmed by the Senate. 

Gen. Smith died in about two months after the cap- 
ture of Donelson, fi'om disease contracted in the INIexi- 
can War and the exposures of this campaign. It 
illustrates the characters of both Gen. Grant and Gen. 
Smith to mention that Gen. Smith was commandant 
at West Point when Grant was a cadet. He was also 
so much Grant's senior in years, that, when the latter 
found Gen. Smith under his command, he felt a little 
delicacy in issuing orders to his old instructor. Smith 
at once perceived this ; and, with the instinct of the 
gentleman and the soldier, said to Gen. Grant, " Let 
nothing in our past relations embarrass you in issuing 
to me any orders you think best : I am a soldier, and 
know my duty." 

" Thus," says Wordsworth, " these two things, con- 
tradictory as they seem, must go together, — manly 
dependence and manly inde[)endence." 



Capture of Fort Donelson. 49 

While these events were transpiring in camp, how 
dijfferent was the scene at the same hour in the peace- 
ful cities and villages of the North ! It was a Sabbath 
mornino- when Fort Donelson surrendered ; the church- 
bells were rinmno; : and thousands of fathers, mothers, 

O O 7 7- 

sisters, and brothers, were remembering and praying 
for their loved ones, far away on the tented field ; 
httle thinking, that, m a few hours, their cheeks would 
blanch and their hearts sicken at the tidino-s that the 
dear ones would come home no more. Already, on the 
banks of the Cumberland, they were sleeping the sleep 
of the brave. 

" There are glad hearts and sad hearts 

By millions to-day, 
As over the wires the magical fires 
Are flashing the tidings of Donelson's fray, — 
Hearts swelling with rapture 

Fo? Donelson's capture, 
Hearts breaking with aching 

For Donelson's slain." 



CHAPTER V. 



BATTLE OF SHILOH. 



THE capture of Fort Donelson and its troops pro- 
duced a great effect throughout the whole country. 
It was the largest number of soldiers ever captured in 
any battle on the continent, and first drew the atten- 
tion of the nation to Gen. Grant as the " coming 
man." 

The North welcomed the victory as establishing a 
new era in the war, — the era of active, offensive, per- 
sistent attack. Grant's words, " I propose to move 
immediately on your works," were everywhere quoted, 
and became a watchword throughout the country. 

The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were opened ; 
Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, fell ; Columbus was 
abandoned; Bowling Green evacuated; and tlie States 
of Kentucky and Tennessee were rescued from the 
rebel armies. 

While preparing for the attack on Fort Donelson, 
Grant had asked Sherman, with whom he was not then 
on any terms of special intimacy, for troops and sup- 
plies. Sherman forwarded them with great vigor, and, 
although the senior officer, wrote to Grant as follows : 
" I will do every thing in my power to hurry forward 
your re-enforcements and supjilics; and, if I could be of 

50 



Battle of Shiloh. 61 

service myself, would gladly come without making any 
question of rank with you or Gen. Smith." 

These two distinguished men, thus brought together, 
ever after acted in entire harmony ; no envy, no jeal- 
ousy, except for tlie honor of each other. Their natures 
were different, but well formed to act together. Their 
official relations ripened into a personal friendship, never 
yet interrupted, and fortunate alike for their own fame 
and their country's glory. 

Gen. Grant was assio;ned to the district of West Ten- 
nessee, and on the 23d of February issued the following 
order : — 

Tlie major-general commanding this department desires to 
impress upon all officers the importance of preserving good order 
and discipline among these troops and the armies of the West 
during their advance into Tennessee and the Southern States. 

Let us show to our fellow-citizens of these States that we come 
merely to crush out this rebellion, and to restore to them peace 
and the benefits of the Constitution and the Union, of which they 
have been deprived by selfish and unprincipled leaders. They 
have been told that we come to oppress and plundei*. By our acts 
we will undeceive them. AVe will prove to them that we come to 
restore, not violate, the Constitution and the laws. In restoring 
to them the glorious flag of the Union, we will assure them that 
they shall enjoy under its folds the same protection of life and 
property as in former days. 

Soldiers, let no excesses on your part tarnish the glory of our 
arms. Tlie orders heretofore issued from this department in regard 
to pillaging, marauding, and the destruction of private projierty, 
and the stealing and concealment of slaves, must be strictly en- 
forced. It does not belong to the military to decide upon the rela- 
tion of master and slave. Such questions must be settled by the 
civil courts. No fugitive slave will, therefore, be admitted within 
our lines or camps, except when especially ordered by the general 
commanding. Women and children, merchants, farmers, and all 



52 Life of General Grant. 

persons not in arms, are to be regarded as non-comliatants ; and are 
not to be molested, either in tlieir persons or jDroperty. If, how- 
ever, they assist and aid the enemy, they become belligerents, and 
will be treated as such. As they violate the laws of war, they will 
be made to suffer the penalties of such violation. 

Military stores and public property of the enemy must be sur- 
rendered ; and any attempt to conceal such property, by fraudulent 
transfer or otherwise, will be punished. But no private property 
will be touched, unless by order of the general commanding. 

A\Tienever it becomes necessary, foi'ced contributions for supplies 
and subsistence for our troops will be made. Such levies will be 
made as light as possible, and be so distributed as to produce no 
distress among the people. All property so taken must be receipted 
fully, and accepted for as heretofore directed. 

These orders will be read at the head of every regiment, and 
all officers are commanded strictly to enforce them. 

By command of Major-Gen. IIalleck. 
W. H. McLean, Adjutanl-Gemral. 

By order of Maj.-Gen. U. S. Grant. 
J. A. Rawlins, A. A. G. 

At this time, a coldness occurred between Gen. Hal- 
leck and Gen. Grant, Avliich the former afterwards ex- 
phiined to have been caused partly by the fltilure of 
colonels of regiments to report to him on their arrival, 
and partly from an interruption of telegraphic communi- 
cation. During the few weeks in which it continued, 
Gen. Grant submitted to the displeasure of his superior 
in the best temper and spirit, and telegraphed from day 
to day as follows : — 

" I am not aware of ever having disobeyed any order from your 
headcjuarters, — certainly never intended sucli a thing. . . . Ju 
conclusion, I will say that you may rely on ui}- carrying out your 
instru(!tions in every particular, to the best of my ability. ... I 
did all I could to get you returns of the strength of my command. 
Every move I made was reported daily to your chief of staiT, who 
must have failed to keep you properly posted. I have done my very 



Battle op Shiloh. 53 

best to obey orders, and to carry out the interests of the service. 
If my course is not satisfactory, remove me at once. I do not 
wish in any way to impede the success of our arms. ... I do not 
feel that I have neglected a single duty." 

The regimental officers at Fort Henry, on the ground, 
and appreciating the true state of the case, on the 12th 
of March presented Gen. Grant with a magnificent 
sword, the blade of the finest steel, the handle of ivory 
mounted with gold, with two scabbards, one of polished 
steel for service, one of gilt for parade, all appropriately 
inscribed. 

On the 17th, Grant established his headquarters at 
Savannah, on the Tennessee River, a hundred and sev- 
enty-five miles south of Nashville, and near the northern 
corner of Alabama and Mississippi. There were with 
him Generals McClernand, Wallace, Smith, Hurlbut, 
and Sherman. Eight miles down the river is Pittsburg 
Landing ; three miles south of it is Shiloh ; sixteen miles 
beyond is Corinth. 

When the rebels were compelled to evacuate Colum- 
bus, they fortified Corinth, just over the line of the State 
of Mississippi, east of Memphis, at the junction of the 
INIeniphis and Charleston and Mobile and Ohio Railroads. 
It Avas one of the most important points in the whole 
South-west, fi'om Memphis to the Gulf of ^Mexico. 
From there a rebel force could advance into Kentucky, 
cross the Ohio River, and move north. It was the 
centre of the vast network of railroads m the South- 
western States. 

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, one of the ablest, if 
not the ablest, of the rebel generals, had been placed in 
command ; and rumor gave him from fifty to a hundred 



54 Life of General Grant. 

thousand troops. With him were Beauregard, Polk, 
Hardee, and Breckinridge. He was near the cotton 
States, the hot-bed of secession, in a region wliose 
resources were then untouched by the war. 

Sherman and Hurlbut were at Shiloh ; Wallace at 
Crump's Landing, five miles below. This was their posi- 
tion when Grant arrived. Within an hour, he issued 
orders for them to concentrate ; and McClernand and 
Smith were moving up to Pittsbvirg Landing. Grant 
remained for a few days to superintend the forwarding 
of supplies and re-enforcements. When his arrange- 
ments were made to move his headquarters to Pittsburg 
Landing, Gen. Buell, who was advancing from Nashville, 
telegraphed him to remain at Savannah, to meet him in 
consultation April 5. 

Grant had apprehended an early movement by John- 
ston, but was ordered not to bring on a general engage- 
ment until Buell should arrive. 

On the 3d and 4th, there was skirmishing on Sher- 
man's front ; but he thought there. would be no battle 
immediately. Grant visited him on the 4th, and agreed 
in his opinion. It was in returning at night from this 
visit that Grant's horse slipped on a log, and fell on his 
rider, injuring him so severely that he did not recover 
for some time. This accident is said to have originated 
the slanders in regard to Grant's liabits. Both Grant 
and Sherman were in error. But the skirmishing 
requiri'd watchfulness. Grant ordered W. H. L. 
WaUace to iiold himself ready to support Lewis Wal- 
lace, and said, — 

" Should you find danjier of this sort, re-enforce him at once 
with yoiu- entire division." 



Battle of Shiloh. 55 

To Sherman he wrote, — 

" Information just received would indicate that the enemy are 
sending a force to Purdy. 

" I should advise, therefore, that you advise your advance guards 
to keep a sharp lookout for any movement in that direction ; and, 
should such a thing be attempted, give all the support of your di- 
vision, and Gen. Hurlbut's, if necessary." 

To Halleck, on the 5th, he wrote, — 

" Our outposts had been attacked by the enemy, apparently in 
considerable force. I immediately went up, but found all quiet. 
... I have scarcely the faintest idea of an attack (general one) 
beino- made upon us, but will be prepared should such a thing take 
place." 

The field of Shiloh was hounded east by the Tennes- 
see River, west by Owl Creek, north by Snake 
Creek, and south by Lick Creek, and was about three 
miles in area between the boundary-lines. The enemy 
advanced from the south. 

Johnston's force comprised about seventy thousand 
men. This was stated by all the prisoners, spies, and de- 
serters. Beauregard acknowledged to have had over 
forty-three thousand after the defeat. The whole Union 
army was about thirty thousand. Buell was ordered to 
re-enforce Grant from Nashville with forty thousand men, 
and was hourly expected. 

Sherman was in front with Prentiss and Stuart ; Mc- 
Clernand was partly behind Sherman, in a diagonal line, 
the left of which extended between Sherman and Pren- 
tiss ; Hurlbut was some distance in the rear of Pren- 
tiss, toward Pittsburg Landing. This was the position 
of affairs, Sunday morning, April G. 



56 Life of General Grant. 

Grant was at Savannah, waiting for Buell. Buell 
was a slow man, a good officer when he arrived, a good 
tactician, handled his men in fine style on the field ; but 
he had not learned the value of time in war. He or- 
dered the divisions of his army to move six miles apart. 
There are men who are always late. They were late 
at school, late at their wedding, late in their business 
appointments, late at the cars, late at their meals ; in a 
word, behind time on all occasions, private and public. 
They can be honest in all things but the time and 
patience of others ; and that they constantly pilfer. 
Buell was one of this class. 

The rebels knew this ; and they planned to advance 
and crush Grant with his little army before Buell ar- 
rived, and then crush Buell. Sabbath morning. Grant's 
horse stood saddled at the door of his tent ; and he was 
about starting to see if he could not find Buell, and 
hurry him up, when he heard heavy firing in the direc- 
tion of Shiloh. The first few guns told him the story, 
and he instantly started the following note to Buell : — 

" Hcarv &-ing is heard up tlie river, indicating plainly that an 
attack has been made upon our most advanced positions. I have 
been looking for this, but did not believe the attack could be made 
before Monday or Tuesday. This necessitates my joining the forces 
up the river, instead of meeting you to-day, as I had contemplated. 
I have directed Gen. AVilson to move to the river with his division. 
He can march to opposite Pittsburg." 

He stopped on his way at Crump's Landing, and told 
Lewis Wallace that a battle had begun. He then rode 
to Sherman's headquarters, where he arrived about 
eight o'clock. 

The night previous, Johnston had moved up in front 



Battle of Shiloh. 67 

of Sherman, with double guards in his own front, or- 
dered to shoot any man who attempted to pass ; and at 
early day had precipitated his whole army upon the 
two feeble divisions of Sherman and Prentiss. But 
Sherman was there, and during the day showed that he 
was an army in himself. 

i In the morning, Beaureguard promised his cavalry 
that "they should water their horses in the Tennessee 
before sunset." The Cossacks, on leaving Russia, 
threatened that theirs should " drink of the Seine, be- 
neath the windows of the Tuileries." The Cossacks 
kept their word. 

Our troops were many of them raw, and had never 
been under fire. Some even had gone out without 
cartridges, and early fell back against the overwhelming 
odds. This alarmed others : a panic ensued ; and five 
or six thousand men began falling back towards the 
landing. Sherman and Prentiss did all that men could 
do, but without avail. Sherman was shot in the hand ; 
but, winding a handkerchief about the wound, he rode 
on. His horse was shot under him : he jumped on an- 
other, and continued his efforts to rally and re-form the 
troops. 

As Grant hurried to the front, he encountered the 
fugitives, and was everywhere told, "We are beaten! 
we are beaten ! " " Our regiment is cut to pieces ! " 
" The battle is lost ! " But he did not see it. No. 
Fate seemed determmed that Grant should be at a dis- 
tance when his great battles began, — on duty, it is true, 
but absent, as if to show what the addition of one man 
to a hundred thousand amounts to. Wellmgton said, 
" I consider the presence of Napoleon on any battle- 



58 Life of General Grant. 

field equal to a re-enforcement of forty thousand troops." 
Often during the Avar there were calls for two and 
three hundred thousand men. After a while, it came 
to be seen tliat there w^as only oyie man more wanted. 

Grant made his way to the fi'ont, where he found 
Sherman riding about among rifle-balls, cannon-shot, 
and shells, as if he bore a charmed life. Wherever the 
shot fell the fastest and the thickest, there was Sher- 
man. He was untiring in his efforts ; cool, daring, and 
full of fight. 

Grant congratulated him on the stand he had made : 
things looked badly ; but the army was not to be 
whipped. Grant, before starting, had thoughtfully 
given orders to forward all day supplies of ammuni- 
tion. Messengers were sent again and again to the 
commanders in the rear to come up. He endeavored 
during the forenoon to re-form the broken regiments, to 
put the disorganized troops into position. Meanwhile 
the rebels, greatly encouraged by their first success, 
steadily advanced. The conflict was deadly, and raged 
with increasing fury. It recalled Lannes' description of 
the battle of Montebello : " I could hear the bones crash 
in my division like glass in a hail-storm." 

At half-past four, in the afternoon, our forces had 
been driven to within half a mile of the landing. 
Grant listened for Buell's guns. About this time, 
Gen. Buell, who had heard the firing at a great dis- 
tance, had ridden on with his staff' in advance of his 
army, and reached the field. Seeing the desperate 
state of affairs, he asked Grant, — 

" What preparations have you made to secure your 
retreat, general ? " 



Battle of Shiloh. 59 

" We shall not retreat, sir." 

" But it is possible," added Buell ; " and a prudent 
general always provides for contingencies." 

" Well, there are the boats," said Grant. 

" The boats ! " said Buell. " But they will not hold 
over ten thousand men, and we have thirty thousand." 

" They will hold more than we shall retreat with. 
We shall whip them yet," was Grant's characteristic 
reply. 

Hurlbut's and W. H. L. Wallace's commands fought 
with stubborn valor. They could be forced back slowly 
by the rebel host ; but they covered the ground with 
their own and the enemy's dead as they receded ; and 
among them, at last, Wallace himself fell. 

Late in the afternoon, when all seemed lost, on a 
ravine not far from the landino-, Col. Webster of Grant's 
staff, a splendid artillery-officer, collected a battery of 
twenty-two guns in a semicircle, which the rebels did 
not silence. Gunners were called for; and a surgeon of 
one of the Missouri regiments. Dr. Cornyn, thought his 
professional experience in surgery was no disqualifica- 
tion, and insisted on taking a place at the guns. 

Rebel batteries were moved up, and opened fire ; but 
now the gunboats "Tyler" and " Lexington " joined 
in the fight with 7-inch shell and Gi-pound shot. 
Buell arrived, but too late. 

At this time, Beauregard telegraphed to Richmond 
as follows : — 

We have tliis morning attacked the enemy in strong position in 
front of Pittsburg ; and after a severe battle of ten hours, thanks 
to Ahnighty God ! gained a complete victory, driving the enemy 
from every position- 



60 Life op General Oiiant. 

The loss on both sides is heavy, including our commander-in- 
chief, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, who tell, gallantly leading his 
troops into the thickest of the fight. 

G. T. Beaueegakd, General commanding. 

It was at this time that Grant made about the only 
attempt at rhyme of which we have any record. The 
excellent stafF-surgeon, Dr. Hewitt, seeing the vast 
numbers of the wounded, was disposed to take a de- 
sponding view, and expressed a belief that the enemy 
would drive us. Grant tried to rally those about him 
into good spirits, and said, — 

" Major Hewitt 

Says they can do it : 
General Grant 
Says they can't ! " 

It was then, too, that Grant, as Sherman afterwards 
related,* told him the story of Donelson, of the disas- 
ters early in the day ; and expounded to Sherman, no 
doubt an easy convert, his ever-favorite theory of the 
mutual exhaustion of both armies in every great battle, 
when, by some vast power, you must rouse your own, 
and go in to triumph. He thought the rebels were about 
in the right condition then, and, if it were not night, 
should attack ; but gave orders that they " should he 
attacked at daylight.'''' 

It must be owned, it is difficult to defeat such a man : 
because he assumes that you will fight hard and figlit 
lono; ; that both armies will do all that mortal men can be 
expected to do ; but that then he will select a moment 
when his o^vn shall do something more. But that he, 

* Shennau's Letter to the Anny and Navy Gazette. 



Battle of Shiloh. 61 

or those following him, shall be the party to fail, he 
never believes. There are men in whom tliis would 
seem to be conceit and over-weening self-confidence ; 
but there is a class of men in whom it is the natural 
fruit of conscious power. Be careful how you encoun- 
ter them. 

" Who sails with me comes to shore," said Ctesar. 

" You never were on a boat with me before, I think," 
said Jackson to a nervous gentleman on a rickety 
steamer in a dangerous storm. 

It had been a terrible battle, one of the most bloody 
that occurred in the war. Gen. Johnston, the rebel 
leader, had been killed, but, with the intrepidity of the 
American soldier, sat motionless on his horse after he 
was shot, not moving until he was lifted out of his sad- 
dle. Beauregard was in command. W. H. L. Wal- 
lace was mortally wounded Prentiss was captured with 
two thousand men. Grant had been struck, but not 
injured ; and the wounded, the dying, and the dead, of 
both armies, covered the field to the number of about 
twenty thousand men. The Federal camp was in pos- 
session of the enemy. 

The shells fiom the gunboats, dropping into the woods 
during the night, set them on fire ; and the sufferings of 
the helpless wounded were terrible, and would have 
been aggravated but for the copious rain, which partly 
quenched the fire, and mitigated their anguish. 

Few except eye-witnesses can form a conception of 
the sufferings of a battle-field. " What a o-lorious sight 
must be a great victory!" said a lady to Wellington. 
" The saddest sight in the world, madam, except a 
defeat," was the reply. 



62 Life of (jeneral Grant. 

It is not generally known, that, among the wounded, 
the most acute anguish is from thirst. A man will live 
longer without food than without water. Water is 
essential to all vital existence, except that of mosses. 
Indeed, the ancients believed that w^ater was the parent 
of all things.* 

The torture of thirst is always increased tenfold by 
the loss of blood. And these poor beings, unable to 
move, were compelled to lie all night : sometimes the 
flames were crackling about them ; sometimes they 
would throw their heads back, and thrust out their 
tongues, hoping to catch a few drops of the falling rahi. 
Here was a headless body ; there was a chsembowelled 
corpse ; near would be a man weakly struggling to 

* This theory was partly drawn from the Mosaic account of the creation. 
Tlie same is taught in the Koran. And Slilton, in " Paradise Lost," accept- 
ing this belief, ■RTites, — 

" On the watery calm 
His brooding whigs the Spirit of God outspread, 
And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth, 
Throughout the fluid mass." 

It was chosen in the parable to represent with most power to the minds 
of men the unutterable torture of the lost: " Let him dip the tip of his fin- 
ger in water, and cool mj^ tongue." It was the only bodily suffering which 
extorted utterance amid the agonies of the crucifixion, — " I thirst;" and 
the cruel refusal to mitigate it was all that was needed to wring from the 
convulsed lips of the dying, "It is finished." Children have remembered 
through life a glass of water given them on some occasion when enduring 
extreme thirst; and invalids nursed in homes of comfort and luxury have 
described for years the sensation of cold water, given to them when burning 
and parched with fever, rendering literally as well as poetically true the 
lines of Talfourd : — 

" Its draught 
Of cool refreshment, drained by fevered lips, 
Will give a shock of pleasure to the frame 
More exquisite than when nectarian juice 
Keuews the life of joy in happiest hours," 



i 



Battle of Shiloh. QS 

fi'ee himself from a pile of corpses. Men, horses, 
mules, mingled in every form of mutilation ; the shells 
screeching and the cannon-balls fljing above them, the 
flames threatening to burn them alive. At times, the 
field seeming to be a bed of fire, except where drowned 
with pools of blood, — friends unable to reach them. 
And so those who survived wore the lono; hours of the 
night away. A vast field of carnage and woe ! If 
angels weep, there were tears in heaven. And this 
was war, but only one scene in a war made and con- 
tinued for four years, that a few men might buy and 
sell human beings. 

But, when the morning dawned, these brave men 
again welcomed the old flag with cheers as they saw 
the advancing re-enforcements of Buell's divisions, and 
regiment after regiment marched into position for the 
final struggle. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BATTLE AT PITTSBURG LANDING. 

TOWARD morning, Gen. Grant lay down on the 
ground in the storm, with a log for his pillow, and 
" slept soundly." Thus Alexander slept on the night 
before the battle of Arbela ; so Conde slept on the eve 
of the battle of Rocroi ; so Napoleon slept on the 
field of Bautzen. 

The talent for sleeping soundly when great events 
are impending is not one of the least elements of 
success. The power of going without sleep, or of 
commanding it when needed, which some men possess, 
is a great gift. That commander is more to be dreaded 
who comes to the field with all the energies of his body 
and mind restored by refreshing sleep, than the 
nervous, excitable man who is jaded out with restless- 
ness and anxiety. The affairs of life look very diflPer- 
ently in the morning to the man who has slept soundly 
than they do to the man who has tossed in feverish 
worry. Success in life is often as much an affair of 
the body as the mind.* 

* " As a torch gives a better light, a sweeter smell, according to the 
matter it is made of, so doth our soul pci-form all her actions, better or worse, 
as her organs are disposed ; or, as wine savors of the cask wherein it is 
kept, the soul receives a tincture from the body through which it works." — 
Burton's Anatomy of Mdanclwly. 
64 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 65 

During the night, some of Buell's men had crossed 
over the river in the rain : and the line now had Lewis 
Wallace on the right ; then Sherman, McClernand, 
Hurlbiit, with the heroes of Fort Donelson ; and 
McCook, Crittenden, and Nelson, on the left. Grant 
ordered an attack at daylight, on Monday the 7th, 
along his whole line, as if there had been no fighting 
for three months. The ball was opened by Nelson's 
division, which soon drew upon itself the fire of almost 
the whole rebel force. His artillery not having come 
up, his men suflPered severely from the rebel batteries, 
until silenced by those of Capts. Mendenhall and 
Terrill, whom Grant sent to Nelson's support. Oppo- 
site Wallace was the famous Crescent Reo-iment from 
New Orleans, and the Washington Artillery of Manas- 
sas renown. 

Beauregard could be seen ridino; in front, and excit- 
ing them to the utmost. 

Sherman now steadily pressed forward to a point 
about fifteen hundred feet east of Shiloh Church, from 
wliich he had been driven on Sunday morning, and 
Avhere Beauregard slept on Sunday night. Here the 
rebel army was plainly seen re-forming, regimental 
colors flying, and bands playing. A rebel battery was 
pounding grape and canister into our forces with terri- 
ble effect. Two brigades, under T. Kirby Smith and 
Rousseau, charged, and carried it at the point of the 
bayonet. 

By two o'clock. Grant had driven the enemy, all the 
while fighting stubbornly, nearly five miles beyond his 
own line of battle on Sunday. An " impressed New- 
Yorker," who was with the Confederate army, Avrote, — 

5 



66 Life of General Grant. 

" No heroism of officers or men could avail to stay 
the advance of the Federal troops." 

Late in the afternoon, Grant, standing on a little 
knoll, saw the First Ohio marching to another portion 
of the field. One of our regiments, in line of battle, 
had been so thinned and weakened, that it was evident 
that it must give way soon, although fighting to drive 
the enemy from one of the last important positions 
which they held. Grant saw the time for the final 
blow had come : he instantly halted the regiment, and 
showed himself to the men, who received him with 
rincrincr cheers. He, drawino- his sword, i)laced liimself 
at their head, and shouting, " Now's the time to drive 
them ! " led them across the field, while the cannon- 
balls were fallincr like hail-stones around him. The 
enfeebled regiment, seeing the determined gallantry of 
their leader, closed up, joined in the charge as if just 
arrived on the field, and swept the enemy from their 
last stronghold. 

The rebels were now evidently retreating. Grant, 
like Blucher, was anxious to send "the last man and 
the last gun after them." But it was represented to 
him that the roads were almost impassable, and that the 
condition of the men was such that some rest was 
absolutely indispensable. After tAventy hours' fighting, 
he reluctantly yielded to these representations for a 
few hours of repose. They encamped on the field 
from which they had first been driven. Early the next 
morning, ]iowe\'er, cavalry were sent out on the road 
to Corinth to follow the retreating army. They found 
the route strewn with haversacks, muskets, blankets, 
and all the evidences of a fiying foe. 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 67 

Grant's loss had been about twelve thousand. Beau- 
regard admitted his to be about eleven thousand ; but 
those -who buried the rebel dead estimated his loss for 
larger, — some even as high as twenty thousand. 

The battle was mainly decided at night, on Sunday, 
when our forces repulsed the last rebel assault at the 
ravine. 

Beauregard, in his report of Sunday's battle, says, 
" Our troops fought bravely, but with the want of 
that animation and spirit which characterized them the 
preceding day." 

The slaughter on both sides was terrific. Sherman 
described it as the most dreadful which he saw in the 
war. Grant says he only saw its equal in the Wilder- 
fiess. In some divisions, the killed and wounded were 
thirty per cent of the numbers who went into the 
action. Regiments, jn some instances, were com- 
manded by lieutenants, and brigades by majors. 

Yet the determination and endurance were truly won- 
derful. A ball was extracted from the brain of one 
soldier, who, three days after, was on duty with the 
bullet in his pocket. A rifle-ball passed through the 
head of a member of the First Missouri Artillery with- 
out killinii him.* 

The battle-field and the dead were in the possession 
of the victors. 

Gen Grant issued the following congratulatory 
order : — 

Headquarters, District of West Tennessee, 

^ „ -.r „ Pittsburg, April 8, 1862. 

General Orders, No. 34. i i > 

The general commanding congratulates the troops who so gal- 
lantly maintained their position, repulsed and routed a numerically 

* Surgical Reports. 



68 Life of Geneeal Grant. 

superior force of the enemy, composed of the flower of the South- 
ern army, commanded by their ablest generals, and fought by 
them with all the desperation of desjiair. 

In numbers engaged, no such contest ever took place on this 
continent ; in importance of result, but few such have taken place 
in the history of the world. 

"WTiilst congratulating the brave and gallant soldiers, it be- 
comes the duty of the general commanding to make special notice 
of the brave wounded and those killed on the field. Whilst they 
leave friends and relations to mourn their loss, they have won a 
nation to gratitude, and undying laurels not to be forgotten by 
future generations, who will enjoy the blessings of the best gov- 
ernment the sun ever shone upon, preserved by their valor. 

By command of Major-Gen. Graxt. 
John A. Rawlins, A. A. G. 

Of Gen. Sherman lie said in his official report, " I 
was greatly indebted for his promptness in forwarding 
to me, during the siege of Fort Donelson, re-enforce- 
ments and supplies from Paducah. At the battle of 
Shiloh, on the first day, he held with raw troops the 
key-point to the landing. To his individual efforts I 
am indebted for the success of that battle. Twice hit, 
and several (I think three) horses shot under him, on 
that day, he maintained his position with raw troops. 
It is no disparagement to any other officer to say that 
I do not believe that there was another division com- 
mander in the field who had the skill and experience 
to have done it." 

Tuesday morning, Beauregard asked jiermission to 
bury his dead, as follows : — 

HEADtif.VliTKIIS, DEJ'AHTMLNT Ol'- MlSSISSII'l'I, 

MoNTKUEY, April 8, 1862. 
Sir, — At the close of the conflict yesterilay, my forces being 
exhausted by the extraordinary length of the time during which 



Battle at Pittsbueg Landing. G9 

they were engaged with }-ours on that and the preceding day, and 
it being apparent that you had received re-cnforcemcnts, I I'elt it 
to be my (Uity to withdraw my troops from the immediate scene 
of the conflict. Under these circumstances, in accordance with 
the usages of war, I shall transmit this, under a flag of truce, to 
ask permission to send a mounted party to the battle-field of 
Shiloh for the pm-pose of giving decent interment to my dead. 
Certain gentlemen wisliing to avail themselves of tliis opportunity 
to remove the remains of their sons and friends, I must request 
for them the privilege of accompanying the burial-party ; and in 
this connection I deem it proper to say, I am asking what I have 
extended to your ovm countrymen under similar circumstances. 
Respectfully, general, your obedient servant, 

P. G. T. Beaukegard, General commanding. 
To Major-Gen. U. S. Grant, commanding U. S. Forces, Pittsburg. 

Grant, in reply, sent the following : — 

Headquarters, Army in the Field, 
Pittsburg, April 9, 1862. 
To Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, Commanding Confederate Anuy on Mis- 
sissippi, Monterey, Tenn., — 

Your despatch of yesterday is just received. Owing to the 
wannth of the weather, I deemed it ad-\-isable to have the dead of 
both parties buried immediately. Heavy details were made for tliis 
pm-pose, and it is now accomplished. There cannot, therefore, be 
any necessity of admitting within our lines the parties you desired 
to send, on the grounds asked. I shall always be glad to extend 
any courtesy consistent with duty, and especially so when dic- 
tated by humanity. 

I am, general, respectfully your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Major-General commanding. 

The immense numbers wounded and slain during 
these two days called forth the beneficent operations of 
the Sanitary Commission, which were continued through- 
out the war on a gigantic scale. Steamers crowded 
with physicians and nurses, and loaded with all neces- 



70 Life op General Grant. 

sarles and delicacies for the sick, were immediately de- 
spatched to the scene of battle, and every effort made to 
mitigate the sufferings of the wounded. 

This commission was one of the wonderful demonstra- 
tions of the war, and received Gen. Grant's earnest 
support and co-operation. The civilization and Chris- 
tianity of Europe had for centuries beheld contending 
hosts march out and deluge the earth with their blood ; 
but the care of the wounded was restricted to the army 
officials, and such limited aid as they could render. It 
was reserved for the people of America to exhibit to 
the world the most majestic proof of love and devotion 
to their country ; giving a million and a half of men 
to its service ; then following in the wake of its armies 
with thousands of volunteer surgeons, physicians, and 
nurses, — women and men bountifully supphed with 
every comfort and luxury of the sick-chamber, eager 
to dress the wounded, care for the sick, write messages 
of love for the helpless, pray with the dying, — shrinking 
from no office that poor humanity could need ; and, 
when all was over, tenderly embalming and forwardmg 
their lifeless remains to the homes they had left. Such 
a people could not be conquered. 

Sherman said, " It was necessary that a combat 
fierce and bitter, to test the manhood of the two armies, 
should come oft'; and that was as good a place as any," 
The battle made the North and South better acquainted 
with the character of the Northern and Southern sol- 
diers. It showed the North that the Southern soldier 
who could brag could also fight ; it showed the South 
that the Northern soldier could " stand, and, having 
done all, stand." There was less talk after that of " one 



1 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 71 

Southerner whipping five Yankees," — the bluster with 
which the rebels opened the war. They found that the 
" mudsills " of the North, as Senator Hammond of South 
Carolina called the men who held the plough and handled 
the trowel, shoved the jackplanc and s^^'ung the sledge, 
did not fear in battle the face of animated dust. The 
Southern soldier had the ardor, the vehemence, the en- 
thusiasm, the self-assertion, of the French, — the same 
which carried the French cavalrj up to the enemy's 
ranks until they rattled their sabres upon their muskets. 
They came on with terrific "yells," which seemed to 
demand a victory as a thmg of course ; but they had not 
the "hold-on," — the grip which yields only to death 
itself. They wanted to carry every thing with a dash, 
and, if resisted firmly, after a wdiile gave way. 

The Northern soldiers did not " yell," — they 
" cheered," and oftener after victory than before. Like 
the Spartans of old, who did not need martial strains to 
excite them, but could march into battle " to the Dorian 
mood of flutes and soft recorders," the Northern men 
in making a charge would grit their teeth, compress 
their lips, slope their bayonets, then silently rush on 
Avith a power that swept every thing before it. It was 
hke the Norman and Saxon blood on the battle-fields 
of Europe. " These English," said Napoleon to Soult 
on the morning at Waterloo, as he first sAvcpt the field 
with his glass, — " these English : at last we have them ! " 
— "I know them, sire," said Soult, who had been in 
Spain, — "I know them ; and they will die where they 
stand ! " The news of the victory was telegraphed over 
the country. It was read to both houses of Congress, 
then in session. Salutes Avere fired ; and everywhere 
the news was received with great rejoicing. 



72 Life of General Grant. 

This battle, or rather the two battles of Shiloh and Pitts- 
burg Landing, were fought April 6 and 7, 1862, They 
were important in many ways, but not the least in the 
entire change which they made in the views of the man 
who was finally to wield the whole force of all the Union 
armies against the Rebellion. He had believed that the 
South, after a few defeats, would relinquish the purpose 
of actually destroying the government, and fastening 
anarchy upon the whole nation ; but that they would 
use their position to negotiate upon the questions in dis- 
pute, and ultimately return to the Union. He Avas now 
convinced that he had not fathomed their purpose, and 
that the words of the secession leader at Washington, as 
reported by Judge Douglas, were true : "If you give 
us a sheet of white paper to write our own terms, we 
will not remain in the Union." He became convinced 
that the leaders of the Rebellion had "resolved, in the 
gloomy recesses of minds capacious of such things," to 
overthrow the liberties of their country, and erect on 
its ruins a vast empire to extend and perpetuate human 
slavery. He saw that it was a life-and-death struggle ; 
that the government must exterminate the Rebellion, or 
be exterminated by it ; that, with the capture of forts 
and the surrender of armies, the slaveholders were not 
Avilling to yield the accustomed fruits of victory. Men 
often mark the progress of our race by battles, sieges, 
the dismemberment of old and the creation of new em- 
pires ; but the silent, still birth of a tlwuglit^ an opinion, 
in the mind of a single man, has often shaken the earth 
with the force of an earthqviake. 

Grant now formed a belief tliat it was not by march- 
ing and countennarching of armies, by taking Fort 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 73 

Sumter or Montgomery, by liokling this city or block- 
ading that harbor, by "crushing, anaconda strategy," 
such as Scott first recommended, that the Rebelhon was 
to be put down ; but that the Rebelhon was in the hearts 
and minds of the slaveholders ; that its power was with 
Lee and the unnumbered bayonets that followed him : 
and thereafter his policy was to pursue the rebel armies, 
and constantly strike, strike. This opinion he ever after 
acted upon, as far as his power went, until the final sur- 
render at Appomattox Court House. He acted on the 
doctrine that political metaphysics, armies, slavery, every 
thing, should be destroyed which resisted the triumph 
of the right. And here was one great secret of his 
success where others had failed. 

Gen. Halleck, who was at St. Louis, now came down 
and took command. 

The North claimed a great victory at first ; but, very 
soon, dissatisfaction was expressed. Gen. Grant, it was 
said, "had not properly chosen his battle-field ; he should 
have had Buell's army on the ground on the first day of 
the fio;htino; ; his habits were bad, or the army would not 
have been driven back to the Landing on Sunday ; it 
was a defeat which Buell only prevented from becoming 
a rout." Such were some of the wise criticisms made. 

Gen. Halleck, after investigating the facts, issued an 
order, thanking Gen. Grant and Gen. Buell, their officers 
and men, " for the bravery and endurance with which 
they sustained the general attacks of the enemy on the 
5th, and for the heroic manner in which, on the 7th, 
they defeated and routed the entire rebel army." 

In regard to the selection of the field, Gen. Sherman 
wrote as follows : — 



74 - Life of General Grant. 

" I will avail myself of this occasion to correct another very com- 
mon mistake in attributing to Gen. Grant the selection of that 
battle-field. It was chosen by that veteran soldier, Major-Gen. 
Charles F. Smith, who ordered my division to disembark there, 
and strike for the Charleston Railroad. It was Gen. Smith who 
selected that field of battle ; and it was well chosen. On any other 
we surely should have been overwhelmed, as both Lick and Snake 
Creeks forced the enemy to confine his movements to a direct front 
attack, which raw troops are better qualified to resist than where 
the flanks are exposed to a real or chimerical danger. Even the 
divisions of the army were arranged in that camp by Gen. Smith's 
order, before Gen. Grant succeeded him to the command of all the 
forces up the Tennessee. If there were any error in jjutting that 
army on the west side of the Tennessee, exposed to the superior 
force of the enemy, also assembling at Corinth, the mistake was 
not Gen. Grant's; but there was no mistake." 

Hon. E. B. Washburne, member of Congress from 
Illinois, thus noticed the attacks on Gen. Grant in an 
able speech in the House of Representatives, May 2, 

1862: — 

" But there is a more grievous suggestion touching the general's 
habits. It is a suggestion that has infused itself into the public mind 
everywhere. There never was a more cruel and atrocious slander 
upon a brave and a noble-minded man. There is no moi'C tempei*- 
ate man in the army than Gen. (xrant. He never indulges in the use 
of intoxicating liquors at all. He is an example of courage, honor, 
fortitude, activity, temperance, and modesty ; for he is as modest 
as he is brave and incorruptible. It is almost vain to hope that 
full justice will ever be done to men who have been thus attacked. 
Truth is slow upon the heels of falsehood. It has been well said 
that ' falsehood will travel from Maine to Georgia while truth is 
putting on its boots.' 

" Though living in the same town with myself. Gen. Grant has 
no ])oliiic:d claims on me; tor, so far as he is a politician, he 
beluugs to a diU'erent party." 



Battle at Pittsburg Landing. 75 

It has long been thouglit very difficult to describe a 
battle : the man who is with the right wing describes 
what happened there; the man who is with the left, 
what happened there ; and the man with the centre de- 
scribes something different ft-om either. 

In reading what Avas said of the battles of April 6 
and 7, Gen. Grant might adopt as his own the remark 
which Gen. Taylor, in the latter part of his life, was ac- 
customed to make when the battle of Buena Vista was 
spoken of: " I used to think I was at Buena Vista. I 
certainly did the day of the battle ; but I have heard so 
much about it since, that I often doubt if I ever was 
there at all." 

A member of Gen. Grant's staff", an eye-witness to 
the cruel injustice which was done in these criticisms, 
wrote some letters in his defence, and sent them to Gen. 
Grant's father for publication. One only Avas published. 
As soon as the general learned of this, he wrote, asking 
that no defence should be made. Conscious of having*- 
done his duty, and his whole duty, he preferred to bide 
his time for a just judgment upon his conduct. 



CHAPTEH VII. 



SIEGE OF CORINTH. 



a RANT Was for an immediate attack: but Hal- 
leck decided otherwise ; and he determined to 
advance toward Corinth, where the rebels had concen- 
trated, and lay siege to the place. Gen. Halleck 
ordered up an immense army to his camp, until a 
hundred and twenty thousand bayonets could be put 
in line. It was called the " Grand Army of the Ten- 
nessee." Shovels and spades appeared by thousands. 
He threw up forty miles of intrenchments. Wells were 
sunk, as if the army itself was besieged. He dragged 
heavy siege-guns through the mud ; he threw up sodded 
earthworks, all constructed upon the highest principles 
of military art. 

Bomb-proof magazines were carefully built ; roads 
were cut in every direction. He advanced cautiously 
about two and a half miles a week for six weeks ; the 
enemy, meanwhile, making no attack. They were 
satisfied as long as they were "let alone." 

Gen. Halleck carried out faithfully his Order No. 3. 
No " unauthorized persons " were allowed within his 
lines : the stories of fugitive slaves about the move- 
ments of Beaureganrs army were disbelieved. Cor- 
inth was to be ap})roac'lied, besieged, and taken with 



J 



Siege of Cortntr, 77 

dio-nity ; and -week after week lie advanced, moving 
forward liis own camp, now a perfect Sevastopol. 
Grant was of opinion, meanwliile, tliat the enemy 
were dividing tlielr forces, and evacuating Corinth. 
He examined their works, and became satisfied, that 
on their extreme left, opposite to or a little west of 
Sherman's line, was their weakest spot ; and that 
there they could be carried at once by assault. The 
digging and intrenching, as if besieged, had a depress- 
ing effect on the national troops. They had driven 
the enemy, flushed with idctory, from the ravine at 
Pittsburg Landing, with deadly slaughter, five miles 
back to Shiloh Church. The enemy were retreating, 
with every sign of disorder, to Corinth ; and the Union 
army stopped six weeks to intrench, and protect itself 
from an attack. Grant ventured modestly to express 
some of these views in the briefest manner to Gen. 
Ilalleck" and suggested an attack, which he had urged 
the morning after the victory at Pittsbui'g Landing ; 
but Gen. Halleck did not agree in tliese opinions, and 
intimated to Gen. Grant that he need not offer his 
advice unless solicited. 

Gen. Grant never intruded his opinions again. 

On the last of May, Gen. Halleck was confident 
that he should be attacked. On the 3d he announced, 
" There is every indication that the enemy will attack 
our left this morning ; " and his magnificent army, one 
of the finest seen during the war, was put in line 
of battle, and waited an attack : but the enemy never 
, came. Halleck had sent Col. Elliott to cut the Mobile 
and Ohio Railroad on the 27th, in Beauregard's rear. 
The whole country had watched daily, for weeks, the 



78 Life of General Grant. 

siege of Corintli, and looked for the capture of 
Beaure.'Tard and his grand army. On the night of the 
Cd of May, the sentinels heard a great rumbling and 
rollino- of cars in Corinth, and reported it. It contin- 
ued all nio-ht long. Toward morning, loud explosions 
■were heard. What could it all mean? Perhaps re-en- 
forcements were pouring in to the enemy. Halleck 
said to Sherman, "I cannot explain it;" and ordered 
him to " advance and feel the enemy, if still in his 
front." Sherman advanced and advanced ; but there 
was no enemy to " feel." He entered Corinth : it was a 
deserted town. There were a few worthless tents, some 
wooden guns, and a few stragglers firing the j)ublic 
buildings ; but the enemy had left: It now appeared, 
that, for nearly a month, the enemy had been planning 
to leave the place. Orders were issued to move 
in the direction of Danville and Booneville. The 
Avorks were formidable in appearance only, and could 
easily have been carried. Grant at once rode to the 
rebel left, the point at which he had advised an attack, 
to ascertain if he had been correct in his judgment ; 
and found that this was the weak point in Beauregard's 
line, and, if attacked, could have been carried, and the 
whole army probably captured. 

For two or three days, Beauregard had been sending 
his sick and his most valuable stores toward ^Mobile, with 
the greatest part of his ordnance : tlie troops had gone 
to the south and west. The magazines and storehouses 
had been blown up, and wei-e a mass of ruins. 

It is not necessary now to censure any one for this 
result. Gen. Halleck was a military scholar : he was 
an over-cautious man. He would liave all, but ven- 



Siege of Coeinth. 79 

ture notliino-. The general who will never move an 
arnij of a hundred thousand men until every lineh-pin 
of every wagon has been examined and reported to 
him will never move. Such a body of men will never 
all be ready. The campaign was ended as far as 
results were concerned. It had been a campaign of 
laborious idleness. 

Halleck was doubtless acting under the impulse 
of opinions formed at St. Louis when he first heard of 
the attack at Shiloh, — that Grant should have been 
intrenched ; and he came down at once, and began 
intrenching. 

On the contrary, Grant had been on the ground all 
the time : he considered the battle of Shiloh and of 
Pittsburg Landing as substantially one battle, in which 
the victory was with him and his troops ; that Avlth 
BuelFs army of fresh troops, the rebel army weakened 
by two days of fighting, our troops shoidd have followed 
them at once, and destroyed them ; that, if this had been 
done, the whole campaign in the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi could have been terminated in thirty days. Grant's 
plan was not engineering and mining and counter- 
mining, but an advance, a battle, and a victory. Sub- 
sequent events showed the correctness of this judgment. 
Beauregard had expected a vigorous pursuit, and had 
sent to Breckinridge, in command of the rear-guard, 
" This retreat must not be a rout." As soon as he 
arrived at Corinth, he telegraphed in cipher to Rich- 
mond for re-enforcements, and said, " Tf defeated liere^ 
we lose the Mississipj^i Vallei/, and 'prohahly our caused 
And so it was ; in a few days. New Orleans Avas cap- 
tured, and Memphis fell. Grant's war policy, in a 



80 Life of General Grant. 

word, was expressed in his letter to Biickner, " I pro- 
pose to move immediately on your ivorks : " and it is 
evident there was one man who agreed with him that 
this pohcy would be the most disastrous to the rebel 
forces ; and that was Beauregard. The rebel army was 
now to be pursued. Grant was there, and Sherman 
was there ; but Buell was sent. 

On the 10th of June, he took seventy thousand men, 
and moved south, toward Booneville. It was a cautious 
man sending a slow man in pursuit. Buell had doubt- 
less, too, become inspired with the importance of caution 
as well as deliberation. He went thirty miles, to Boone- 
ville, with his splendid army ; and, finding no enemy, 
threw up lines of defence, and waited for them to 
attack. It was evident to the soldiers the enemy had 
fled ; but Buell, on whom rested the responsibility, did 
not perceive this. 

After a few days, however, he was compelled to 
march back to Corinth. The rebels were fifty miles 
distant by the nearest railroad, and seventy miles by 
wagon-road ; and the campaign was ended. The 
opinion was freely expressed by military men, that, if 
Gen. Halleck had remained in St. Louis, Grant would 
have captured Beauregard and his whole army. 

On the 17th of July, Halleck Avas called to Washing- 
ton as commander-in-chief, and Grant was left in com- 
mand. Soon after, four divisions of his army were 
ordered to join Buell, towards Chattanooga. 

Grant at once strengthened and improved the works 
which Beaureirard had left. 



CHAPTER Vm. 

BATTLE OF lUKA. BATTLE OF CORINTH. 

ARE-ORGANIZATION of military depart- 
ments now gave to Gen. Grant the Depart- 
ment of West Tennessee, stretchino- from the west 
bank of the Mississippi to the west shores of the 
Tennessee. This included Memphis, which was now 
occupied by the Union forces. Gen. Grant now visited 
that city, and took measures to prevent the sending of 
letters, fire-arms, goods, and ammunition out of the 
city. He rented unoccupied buildings owned by 
traitors, and directed the rent paid to the United States. 
He notified the families of rebels that they would be 
required to move from the city unless they signed a 
parole that they had, in no form whatever, aided the 
rebel government, and would not do so ; that captured 
guerillas would not be treated as prisoners of war ; and 
that the property of traitors would be sold to indemnify 
the government for all losses caused by the depreda- 
tions of outlaws. 

Notwithstanding the surrender of the city, and its 
occupation by the Union army, the rebel press was 
constantly endeavoring to stir up and keep alive the 
most bitter hatred toward the Union citizens and sol- 
diers. Gen. Grant found it necessary to stop this ; and 

6 81 



82 Life of General Grant. 

one of the most rancorous of the rebel sheets received 
the following very explicit order : — 

He.vdquarters, District of West Tennessee, 
Office PRovosT-ilARsiiAL-GENER.\.L, 
Memphis, Tenn., July 1, 18C2. 

Messrs. Wills, Bingilvm, & Co., Proprietors of tlie Memphis Avalanche, — 
You -will suspend tlie furtlier publication of your paper. The 
spirit with wliieh it is conducted is regarded as both incendiary 
and treasonable, and its issue cannot longer be tolerated. 

This order will be strictly observed from the time of its re- 
ception. 

By command of Major.-Gen. U. S. Grant. 

Wji. S. Hillter, Provost-Marshal-General. . 

Memphis, July 1, 1862. 
" The Avalanche " can continue by the withdrawal of the 
author of the obnoxious article, under the caption of " Mischief- 
makers," and the editot-ial allusion to the same. 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

The guerilla warfare was continued )jy the rebels 
with fierceness and cruelty ; and Gen. Grant found it 
necessary to issue still more severe orders, to one of 
which the following is a reply : — 

Trenton, Tenn., July 29, 1862. 
General, — The man who guided the rebels to the bridge 
that was burned was hung to-day. He had taken the oath. The 
houses of four others who aided have been burned to the ground. 
(Signed) G. M. Dodge, Brigadier-General. 

Slaves in large numbers had early sought refuge 
within the Union lines ; -but the government was not 
yet prepared to enlist them as soldiers. In one instance 
in Missouri, slaves havino; given ^'ahlable information to 
the Union forces had been seized by their rebel owner, 



Battle of Iuka. 83 

to be sent within the rebel Hnes ; upon which they were 
taken hy an Iowa officer, and the circumstance report- 
ed to headquarters. The slaves soon after, understand- 
ing the full import of Gen. Halleck's Order No. 3, 
attempted to escape : they were pursued by a detach- 
ment of ]Missouri mihtia in the pay of the United 
States ; and one was actually shot by the pursuino- 
party. 

Senator Wilson of Massachusetts had introduced a bill 
in Congress forbidding all officers from returning fugitive 
slaves ; and this was followed by legislation of a similar 
character. 

Gen. Grant forthwith gladly issued orders that fugitive 
slaves should be enroDed, and regulated the relation of 
these refugees to the army within his department. 

During the summer, Gen. Grant, by active and con- 
stant cavalry reconnoissances, kept himself thoroughly 
posted as to the position and movements of the rebel 
forces ; and had for some time been secretly forwarding 
troops north in aid of movements for the protection of 
Cincinnati and Kentucky before it was known to the 
enemy. Early in September, the rebel commanders in 
the South-west determined to unite in an attack on 
Grant's position. Gen. Braxton Bragg, as a piece of 
consummate strategy, while really at Chattanooga in 
Tennessee preparing to move towards the Oliio River, 
issued an order dated at Sparta, a small town in the 
south of Alabama. The warlike associations with tlie 
name of Sparta perhaps secured for it the honor of 
being used by Gen. Bragg for the purpose of deceiving 
the Union commander. 

But Gen. Grant, though not a resident of the ancient 



84 Life of General Grant. 

city or the modern village, was too much of a Spartan 
by nature to be in the least deceived by the order or its 
author. He immediately telegraphed to Rosecrans at 
Tuscumbia, putting him on his guard. 

Van Dorn and Price, early in September, began 
moving toAvard the Tennessee ; Price striking east of 
Grant, as if for Kentucky ; while Van Dorn threatened 
Corinth. 

On the 18th of September, Gen. Grant ordered Gen- 
erals Rosecrans and Ord to advance upon luka, where 
a severe engagement took place on the afternoon of the 
10th. Gen. Grant had intended that Ord and Rose- 
crans should unite early in the morning of that day : 
but Rosecrans had been deceived and misled by a rebel 
spy who had secured his confidence, and remained with 
him until an hour or two before the fight ; and he was 
also detained by the terrible condition of the roads and 
the thickly-wooded country. The troops fought well ; 
held their ground : and in the night the enemy fled 
with a loss of 1,438, our army entering luka the next 
morning. But Grant, owing to the fact that Rosecrans 
and Ord did not unite as expected, failed to destroy 
Price's whole force as he had intended. Price was 
prevented from advancing into Kentucky, or holding 
his force in full strength until Van Dorn could join 
him in a united attack on Corinth. 

The North at tliis time was threatened with invasions 
in Maryland and Ohio. Pope and McClellan were 
superseding each other on the Potomac ; and Grant's 
troops were constantly being ordered east to their sup- 
port. This weakened and embarrassed him ; and to 
hold his own with diminished forces caused him the 



Battle of Corinth. 85 

greatest anxiety and perplexity, as his despatches at this 
time abundantly testify. 

Price retreated to Rij^ley, Miss., united with Van 
Dorn, and, on the 2d of October, appeared before 
Corinth with thirty-eight thousand men, where Rose- 
crans was now stationed with nineteen thousand men. 
Grant was at his headquarters at Jackson. On the 3d 
of October, they attacked Corinth with ftill force. 
Grant had ordered Rosecrans to attack ; but the enemy 
were so confident of victory, they did not wait for this, 
but attacked, and drove Rosecrans back to the defences, 
of which Grant's quick eye had seen the need on first 
examining the position of Corinth, and which he had 
constructed as soon as Halleck left for Washington. 
The rebel attack was renewed on the 4th with great 
confidence and valor ; but it was everywhere repulsed. 
Rosecrans had skilfiilly placed his guns, and induced the 
enemy to attack, where, when they opened, their men 
would go down in swaths. On they came ; then the 
guns with their grape and canister, a flash, a loud 
report, and the rebels went down in hundreds. It was 
hard iron shells and balls ploughing through soft, warm 
flesh and blood. But on they came. " The rebel sol- 
diers," said an eye-witness, " marched steadily to death, 
with their faces averted like men striving to protect 
themselves ao;ainst a driving storm of hail." 

The Confederate Congress had recently substituted 
the new rebel flao-, — the stars on a cross, instead of the 
" stars and bars " first used. The new flags were borne 
that day. The Parrott guns make terrible slaughter. A 
Texan, Col. Rogers, is about to charge at the head of 
his regiment. He seizes the new flag in one hand, and, 



86 Life of General Grant. 

with a revolver in the other, rushes forward at the head 
of liis men. He has not been hit : he mounts the para- 
pet, waves the new flag, and foils headlong a corpse into 
the Union intrenchment, with five men by his side, 
riddled with bullets. 

Grant, though " absent in body, was present in mind." 
He had ordered McPherson to march from Jackson 
with re-enforcements for Rosecrans : he arrived during 
the fight, in the rear of Price and Van Dorn ; and, by 
eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the defeat of the enemy 
was complete. 

Grant had anticipated this, even, and had sent Hiu'l- 
but and Ord, four thousand strong, to the Hatchie River, 
forty miles away, to strike them in flank as they re- 
treated ; which was done on the 5th with fine effect, 
capturing a battery of artillery and several hundred 
men. Grant had determined to capture Van Dorn and 
his whole army, and would be satisfied with nothing 
less. He had informed Rosecrans of the mai'ch of Ord 
and Hurlbut to Hatchie River, and directed him to 
pursue immediately, even as far as Bolivar. The char- 
acter of commanders is often seen in the energy with 
whicji the fruits of a well-earned victory are seized and 
followed up. The army that is allowed to " fight and 
run away can fight another day," but, if mercilessly 
pursued, is often demoralized, scattered, and broken up. 
Rosecrans' men had fought two days (thougli mostly 
behind their intrenchments), and were fatigued, hun- 
o-ry, and weary ; but Grant had ordered them to pursue. 
One day of pursuit would give them peace and rest for 
a loner time. Rosecrans reported, " I rode all over our 
lines, announcing the result of the fight in person ;" or- 



Battle of Corinth. 87 

dered the troops " to rest, and start the next morning in 
pursuit."' This was eleven o'clock on the 4th. '' The 
next morning " ! But will Price and Van Dorn wait at 
Hatchie's Run to be captured? will they not escape from 
Ord and Hurlbut durino; all the afternoon and niaht ? 
It was even so. The next morning, Rosecrans started 
out, but, being misinformed, took a road which led him 
eight miles away from Hatchie's Run before the mistake 
was discovered. Meanwhile, Ord and Hurlbut had 
had their fight, at a disadvantage, with Price and Van 
Dorn, who had made a wide circuit round, crossed the 
Hatchie several miles south at Crown's Bridge, burning 
the bridge after them. 

Grant was displeased and chagrined at the failure to 
obey his orders implicitly. It did not quite suit his taste 
either for a commander to ride al)out his army, announ- 
cing his victory in person, at any time, and especially 
when under orders to advance and follow up the re- 
treating enemy. He did not wish any one to eat or 
sleep, or glorify a victory, until all had been wrung 
from it that it could possibly be made to yield. Pursue, 
disperse the enemy, take the last prisoner, the last mus- 
ket, before you rest or sleep. This spirit animated 
Grant in all his battles on the Tennessee, the Cumber- 
land, the Potomac. It made him Lieutenant-General, 
and carried him in triumph to the final scene on the 
Appomattox. " The longer I live," said Fowell Bux- 
ton, " the more I am certain that the great difference 
between men, between the feeble and the powerful, the 
great and the insignificant, is energy^ invincible deter- 
mination^ a purpose once fixed, and then death or 
victory ! That quality will do any thing that can be 



88 Life of General Grant. 

done in this world ; and no talents, no circnnistances, 
no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man 
without it." 

But Rosecrans and his men had fought nobly, and 
received the gratitude of the country. The Union loss 
was about 2,359 ; of whom 315 were killed, the remain- 
der wounded and missing. " Our loss," says Pollard, 
" was probably double that of the Federal forces." 

President Lincoln telegraphed as follows : — 

Washington, D.C, Oct. 8, 1862. 
Major-Gen. Grant, — I congratulate you, and all concerned, 
in your recent battles and victories. How does it all sum up ? I 
especially regret the death of Gen. Hackelman ; and am anxious to 
know the condition of Gen. Oglesby, who is an intimate personal 
friend. A. Lincoln, 

Gen. Rosecrans was made a major-general of volun- 
teers, and ordered to Cincinnati to supersede Gen. Buell 
as commander of the Army of the Cumberland. The 
battles of luka and Corinth had both been planned and 
fought by Grant, in his brain, before the armies met : 
the victories were the result of his orders. If they had 
been more strictly obeyed, the results would have been 
far larger. But he was quiet, and put forth no claims : he 
did not stand tiptoe, and shout, " I did it ! " He did not 
receive, the credit he deserved. The victory was ours : 
who had won it was of less consequence to Grant. He 
was not a demonstrative man. He had about him no 
" fuss and feathers," — not enough to attract early no-- 
tice. His words were few, his manners simple : he 
assumed nothing. As soon as he had won a great vic- 
tory, he set to work planning how to win another, and 



Battle op Corinth. 89 

did not get leave of absence to run up to show himself in 
the hotels at Cincinnati and Washington. Such a man 
was so great a novelty, that he had to be observed and 
studied to be appreciated. But his time was coming: not 
even his own modesty, great as it is, could conceal his 
merits. " The truth is, that Grant's extreme simplicity of 
behavior, and directness of expression, imposed on various 
officers both above and below him. They thouglit him 
a good, plain man, who had blundered into one or two 
successes, and who, therefore, could not be immediately 
removed ; but they deemed it unnecessary to regard his 
judgment, or to count upon his ability. His superiors 
made their plans invariably without consulting him ; and 
his subordinates sometimes sought to carry out their own 
campaigns in opposition or indifference to his orders, 
not doubting, that, with their superior intelligence, they 
could conceive and execute triumphs which would ex- 
cuse or even vindicate their course." * 

On the 16th of October, Gen. Grant's department 
was designated as the " Department of the Tennessee," 
and was extended to include the State of Mississippi, in 
which was Vicksburg. 

It was divided by Gen. Grant into four districts, under 
Generals Sherman, Hurlbut, Hamilton, and Davies. 

The Administration was desirous that the State of 
Tennessee should resume her loyal position. It was 
thought that Gen. Grant's victories rendered it an aus- 
picious time to address the people. The following docu- 
ment, Avritten by Abraham Lincoln, united, perhaps for 
the first time, the names of Gen. Grant and Andrew 
Johnson ; and, in view of recent events and the discus- 

* Dadeau. 



90 Life of General Grant. 

sions on reconstruction, will be read with interest. The 
remarks about '•'•peace again upon the old terms uf the 
Constitution " sound strangely now after the great and 
irrevocable events we have witnessed. 

Executive JIaxsion, WAsinxGTON, Oct. 21, 1S62. 
Major-Gen. Grant, Gov. Johnson, and all having military, naval, and civil 
authority under the United States within the State of Tennessee, — 

The bearer of this, Thomas R. Smith, a citizen of Tennessee, 
goes to that State, seeking to have such of the people thereof as 
desire to avoid the unsatisfactory prospect before them, and to ha^e 
peace again upon the old terma under the Constitution of tlie United 
States, to manifest such desire by elections of members to the 
Congress of the United States, particularly ; and perhaps a legis- 
lature, State officers, and a United-States senator, friendly to their 
object. I shall be glad for you, and each of you, to aid him ami 
all others acting for this object as much as possible. In all avail- 
able tvaijs, give the jKople a chance to express their toishes at these 
elections. Follow law, and forms of law, as far as convenient ; hut, at 
all events, get the expression of the largest number of the j)eople possi- 
ble. All see how much such action will connect with and 
effect the proclamation of Sept. 22. Of course, the men elected 
should be gentlemen of character, willing to swear support to the 
Constitution as of old, and knov/n to be above reasonable suspicion 

of duplicity. 

Yours very respectfully, 

A. LiXCOLN. 

The Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln 
was issued in January, 1863 ; and was thus cordially 
welcomed by Gen. Grant : — 

General Okdees, No. 25. Milliken's Bend, La. 

Corps, division, and post commanders will allbrd all facilities 
for the completion of the negro regiments now organizing in this 
department. Commissaries will issue supplies, and quartermas- 
ters will furnish stores, on the same requisitions and returns as are 
required from other troops. 



Battlk ok Coutnth. 91 

It is expected that all commanders will especialli/ exert themselves 
in carri/uig out the policy of the Administration, not onli/ in organiz- 
ing colored regiments and rendering them efficient, but also in remov- 
ing prejudice against them. 

By order of Major-Gen. U. S. Grant. 
John A. Rawlins, A. A. G. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 



IT had long been predicted that the Valley of the 
Mississippi would be the seat of future empire in 
America. When Napoleon was negotiating the cession 
of Louisiana, he said, " The nation which controls 
the Valley of the Mississippi will eventually rule 
the world." Its importance in a civil war Avas early 
seen. " The A^alley of the Mississippi," says De 
Tocqueville, " is the most magnificent dwelling-place 
prepared by God for man's abode." The river enriches 
an area of nearly one million and a half of square 
miles, — six times the size of the empire of France. 
Fifty-seven rivers, some of them a thousand miles in 
length, contribute to swell its waters. It is the mon- 
arch of rivers. The Indians called it " the Father of 
Waters." "The possession of the Mississippi Kivev is 
the possession of America," said Gen. Sherman. "As- 
sist in preserving the jNIississippi River," said Jefferson 
Davis to the citizens of IVIississippi, at Jackson, " that 
great artery of the Confederacy, and thus conduce, 
more than in any othe7' tvay, to the perpetuation of the 
Confederacy and the success of the cause." " There 
is not one drop of rain that falls over the whole vast 
expanse of the North-west that does not find its home 

92 



VicKSBURG Campaign. 93 

in the bosom of the Gulf," said Vallandighain, in his 
speech declaring the inability of the government to 
conquer the Rebellion, and the determination of the 
North-west to go with the South if a separation took 
place. But other men of the North-west saw different 
means of preserving their right of way on the oreat 
river besides receiving it as a gift from a few slavehold- 
ing rebels. Among them was Logan, avIio could talk 
eloquently as well as fight bravely. He said, " If the reb- 
els undertake to control the Mississippi, the men of the 
North-west will hew their way to the Gulf, and make 
New Orleans a fishpond." Aside from Grant's appre- 
ciation, as a military commander, of the importance of 
the river, he was a Western man, born on the banks of 
the Ohio ; and he sympathized thoroughly with the 
invincible determination which burned and glowed in 
the hearts of the people of the North-west to hold their 
way unchallenged to the sea.* 

The rebels, very early in the Rebellion, seized and 
fortified the most important points, — Columbus, Fort 
Pillow, Island No. 10, Vicksburg, and Port Hudson. 
The first three had fallen before Vicksburg was includ- 
ed in Gen. Grant's department. All that the Confed- 
eracy had of engineering skill and experience was 

* In the summer of 1857, the writer, visiting St. Louis for the first time, 
hnppened to cross the river on the ferry-boat in the same carriage with 
Judge Douglas. The public mind was then full of the discussions in regard 
to Kansas. Judge Douglas turned to a Boston gentleman, and, pointing out 
of the window to the river, said, " As you are a stranger here, sir, I will show 
you a natural curiosit}'. The waters of the Missouri and Mississippi flow 
side by side here without intermingling, and with different colors, — one clear, 
one dark and muddy." — " Perhaps," was the reply, " it is to represent the 
free soil and slave soil through which they flow." — " Perhaps so," said tho 
judge with a smile. " I didn't think of that." 



94 Life of General Gkant. 

exhausted in rendering Vicksburg the Gibraltar of 
America. Nature and Art combined made it ahnost 
impregnable. It is four hundred miles above New 
Orleans, is situated on high ground, and had a popula- 
tion of four or five thousand. 

The military results of the victories of Donelson and 
Shiloh had been to open the Mississippi from Cairo 
to Memphis, — a distance of two hundred and forty 
miles. 

Early in June, 1862, Farragut, after his brilliant 
victory at the mouth of the river, sent a part of his 
squadron up the river under Com. Lee, who found the 
city too strong to be taken with gunboats or mortar- 
boats. 

An attempt was made to move Vicksburg six miles 
from the river by cutting a canal in a bend in the 
Mississippi opposite. In former years, the course of 
this fickle and meandering; stream had been chann-ed in 
a single night by running a furrow with a plough 
across a neck of land. The canal was three miles and 
a half long, six feet deep, ten feet wide. The project 
deeply interested Mr. Lincoln, and attracted great 
attention throughout Europe. Several thousand men 
were eno-aixed in this work for a number of weeks. It 
was nearly completed, when the river rose suddenly, 
burst the dam at the head of the canal, and, instead of 
confining itself to the prepared channel, overflowed in 
all directions. Camps were submerged, horses drowned : 
the canal was a failure. Vicksburg was not to be 
displaced from the I'ivcr-bank in that manner. For 
seventy days, from about the middle of May till the 
last of July, 1862, Vicksburg had been besieged ; and 



ViCKSBURG Campaign. 95 

twenty-five thousand shot and shell were thrown into 
the city by the fleet, without impairing its defences. 

It was attempted to cut a way from the river to Lake 
Providence, seventy miles north of Vicksburg, and 
formerly a part of the old channel ; thence into the 
Tensas, Washita, and Red Rivers, into the Mississippi, 
above Port Hudson. It was a long and Avinding way ; 
could only be used by steamers of light draught ; had 
no depth of water when the river was low ; and was 
finally abandoned. 

Twelve miles north of Vicksburg, on the east side, 
is the mouth of the Yazoo River. Up this river the 
rebels had extemporized a navy-yard, and built there 
gunboats, and a powerful steam-ram and a water-battery. 
The mouth of the river was strongly fortified, especially 
at Haine's Bluff. One hundred and fifty miles north 
of Vicksburo', on the east side, is Moon Lake : from 
this lake the Yazoo Pass extends to the Coldwater 
River, thence to the Tallahatchie River, thence to the 
Yazoo River, — all parallel to the Mississippi. The Ya- 
zoo Pass was a tortuous bayou, thirty feet deep, six 
miles long. In former years, this route had been used 
by small trading-vessels ; but, as the whole country 
between the two rivers was often overflowed, the 
State of Mississippi had constructed a dam at the 
entrance to the pass. A mine was exploded ; the dam 
was thrown open ; and, in two days, a river a mile in 
length was pouring into Moon Lake, allowing the 
largest steamers to pass. But the rebels were not idle 
below. The banks of the rivers were • lined with 
gigantic trees, — sycamores, cottonwood, oak, elm, and 
pecan-wood. These trees were felled in large num- 



96 Life of General Ghant. 

bers across the stream, mainly by enforced slave- 
labor. One barricade was a mile and a quarter 
in length. Some of these primeval giants, which 
were old when the Mississippi was first seen by 
white men, weighed twenty tons. These had to be 
hauled out by cables ; men working in parties of five 
hundred in the Avater. After an almost incredible 
amount of labor, the pass -jyas opened from INIoon Lake 
to the Coldwater River. But, while the Union army 
had been opening the northern end of the new route, 
the rebels had been as diligently closing the lower end. 

Gen. Ross with forty-five hundred men, on twenty- 
two transports, preceded by two iron-clads under 
Lieut.-Commander Watson, entered the Coldwater, 
twenty-five miles from the Mississippi, on the 2d of 
March. The river is about forty miles long, one hun- 
dred feet wide, and runs through a wilderness till it 
enters the Tallahatchie, a river of similar character, 
and both too deep to be easily obstructed. This long 
passage of two hundred and forty miles was made 
cautiously ; the boats moving slowly by daylight, and 
being tied to the shore at night. It was an exploring 
expedition through an unknown region, filled with 
active and unrelenting enemies ; but it Avas safely com- 
pleted on the lOth of March. 

Its success inspired the hope that the Avhole army 
might be transported through this circuitous route, nine 
hundred miles in length, and landed near Haine's 
BluflF, a few miles above Vicksburg. But the difficulty 
was to obtain at once, in sufficient numbers, steamers of 
light draught only. At first, only one division, under 
Gen. Quimby, could be sent ; then the corps of Mc- 



VicivSBURG Campaign. 97 

Pherson, and a division of Hurlbut, were ordered to 
follow as fast as transportation could be obtained. 

■ Near where the Tallahatchie flows into the Yazoo, 
a third river, the Yallabusha, enters it at the town of 
Greenwood. Opposite Greenwood, the rebels had 
erected Fort Pemberton. The land was so low as to 
be almost surrounded by water, too deep for a land- 
attack by infantry, and not deep enough for boats to 
get within short range. The expedition depended 
wdiolly upon the insufficient naval force for success. 
The boats could not get within less than twenty-seven 
hundred feet of the battery. The attack was made, 
but was unsuccessful. One boat was disabled, six men 
killed, and twenty-five wounded. The rebel loss was 
one man killed. 

It was now attempted to drown out the garrison, only 
twenty-four inches above the water, by cutting a levee 
three hundred miles distant, at Austin, near Helena, 
and turning the floods of the Mississippi in that direc- 
tion ; but the lordly and capricious Father of Waters, 
as if determined that the dwellers on its banks should 
themselves settle forever their right of way to the sea, 
could neither be coaxed nor forced from its usual chan- 
nel, and left Fort Pemberton unharmed. The course 
of the river was one of " non-intervention." 

But Ross was in peril, and must be relieved. The 
Union gunboats held the mouth of the Yajcoo. On 
this river, before reaching Haine's Bluff, Steele's Bayou 
opens, runs north, circles around Fort Pemberton, and 
re-enters the Yazoo sixty miles above a trackless and 
labyrinthine maze ; adopting on its devious course of one 
hundred and fifty miles, as if to elude detection, the 



98 Life of General Grant. 

I 

aliases of Black Bayou, Deer Creek, Rolling Fork, 
and Big Sunflower. Grant accompanied Admii-al 
Porter on a reconnoissance on the 15th of March., 
On the 16th, he sent forward Sherman and a division 
of troops. He ardently hoped, not only to relieve 
Ross, but to find some base from which to prosecute his 
campaign on dry land. 

Sherman's troops were sent iip the Mississippi, on 
transports, to Eagle Bend ; marched about a mile over 
to the transports in the bayou, buikhng bridges across 
the swamp. The gunboats became entangled in the 
drift-timber, and could with difficulty force their way 
along, sometimes moving only four miles in twenty-four 
hours. Trees had to be pulled up by the roots, stumps 
sawed oiF under water. The bayous were crooked, cov- 
ered with a thicket of trees overhead, and tilled with 
saplings in the channels. With incredible difficulty, 
they advanced slowly ; but it was found, at last, that the 
troops must be disembarked from the transports, and 
put on coal-barges and tugs, the way for steamers be- 
coming impassable. The progress of the infantry was 
now much slower than that of the naval vessels ; and 
Admiral Porter arrived at Rolling Fork, March 30, 
much in advance of the troops. The rebels here were 
felling trees across the stream in great numbers, and 
compelling slaves to aid them at the point of the bayo- 
net: they were doing the same farther down in the 
rear of the boats. The labor of removing these obstruc- 
tions was pursued day and night, under tire of a cloud 
of sharpshooters, and was toilsome beyond description. 
The heavy guns of the little fleet were not available in 
such a warfare to any great extent. It became appar- 



VicKSBURG Campaign. 99 

ent that the fleet was in danger ; and Admiral Porter 
sent word by a slave, who succeeded in making his 
Avay thirty miles back to Sherman, to come to his sup- 
port. The promptitude of Blucher's movements gave 
him among the Prussian soldiers the name of " Mar- 
shal Forwards." A hke spirit was in Sherman. It 
was night when this message came : but at once the 
army was started, and moved up along the narrow, 
slimy, treacherous path, on the river's bank, through 
almost impenetrable canebrakes, guided by lighted 
torches; the indomitable general leading the way. 
It was the first " torchlight procession " ever seen in 
that desolate region. He found Porter's boats about 
three feet below the river bank, unable to reach the 
rebel force, and their sharpshooters, of whom there were 
about four thousand, and a battery of artillery, in the 
swamps. But Sherman's men soon changed the appear- 
ance of all this, drove off the enemy, and saved the 
fleet. 

But it was found necessary to abandon the route. 
Tlie character of the country, the blockading of the 
creek by the rebels, now thoroughly aroused to the 
importance of the movement, compelled a return of 
the expedition. The gunboats unshipped their rudders, 
and backed down the narrow streams, where there was 
not room to swing around ; and, thumping over the trees, 
finally returned in safety to their starting-point. Grant 
had ordered a concentration of forces at Milhken's 
Bend ; and by the last of March the army were back 
there, baffled in their main object, it is true, but har- 
dened by exposure, better acquainted with the difficul- 
ties to be encountered, and commander and men in- 
flexible in their determination to take Vicksburg. 



100 Life of General Grant. 

All the elaborate and laborious schemes to take the 
city, some five in number, had failed ; the rebels were 
jubilant, but still continued to strengthen the place by 
every means known and unknown to military science ; 
the administration was discouraged; the Western State 
authorities were impatient. Grant had been compelled 
at times to stop all letters between the army and friends 
at home, lest the mails should be captured, and reveal 
to the enemy the location and movements of his forces. 
At these times, the anxiety of friends at home colored 
their fears. It was said the soldiers were dying by thou- 
sands in those pestilential swamps : fevers, dysenteries, 
and exposure were destroying what rebel rifles left in 
those impenetrable morasses, fit only for snakes and rep- 
tiles, and inaccessible to any ministrations to the sick and 
wounded. Grant was, after all, a failure. He had been 
" lucky," it was said, at Donelson and Corinth ; but he 
had " taken to drinking," and should be removed. He 
still said quietly, " I shall take Vicksburg;" but this was 
regarded as mulish and unreasoning obstinacy, and only 
showed more clearly the necessity for removing him. 
The newspapers were filled with the spirit of these criti- 
cisms ; and they produced, of course, a powerful influ- 
ence at Washington ; and various officers were urged for 
appointment as his successor. 

And now was seen the sense of justice, and the mar- 
vellous power to judge of. men, surpassing intuition, 
possessed by Abraham Lincoln. A strong friend of 
Gen. Grant, a member of Congress, who had been 
moved by these representations, but who now despaired 
of his success, called on the President to acknowledge, 
from a sense of duty, that the condition of affairs 



VicKSBURG Campaign. 101 

required another commander at Vicksburg. He re- 
ceived tliis answer : " I rather like the man. 1 think 
we will try him a little longer." This was not the 
least of the services which the beloved President ren- 
dered to the country. Meanwhile, Grant, though 
appreciating all the circumstances, preserved his usual 
silence : he transmitted regularly his official reports to 
the War Department; but he did not write, nor cause to 
be written, long arguments to show that Vicksburg ought 
to have fallen, and would have fallen, "if" the govern- 
ment had sustained him, had sent him more re-enforce- 
ments, or "if" this or that had been otherwise. He 
accepted the facts without any " ifs." In his own mind, 
he had never had great confidence in the success of 
any of these plans, though they might succeed. But 
the army could not remain idle ; and the summer 
droughts were needed to carry out the other plans 
he had long contemplated. 

The natural situation of Vicksburg, and the topog- 
raphy of the country around it, were its defences, as 
well as the skill, science, and courage of its defenders. 
It seemed to be, as Davis had pronounced it, " the Gib- 
raltar of America." The European press re-echoed the 
censures of American journals. The administration 
telegraphed that " the President was getting impa- 
tient." 

But, April 1, Grant telegraphed to Halleck, " The 
discipline and health of this army is now good, and I 
am satisfied the greatest confidence of success prevails." 
And success came. 



CHAPTER X. 



RUNNING THE BATTERIES. 



THE failure of the many attempts on Vicksburg had 
one good effect : it showed to the mind of the 
commander how it could not be taken, and so reduced 
the remaining alternatives from which a selection could 
be made. 

Grant's army was at Milliken's Bend, on the west side 
of the Mississippi, above Vicksburg. His plan was to 
march the army down to New Carthage, cut a canal 
through the bayous, put the troops on barges and empty 
coal-boats, Avhich should be drawn by tugs to some point 
south of the citadel. But this would leave the army on 
the west bank of the river, with no means of crossing. 
But this was to be remedied by the boats above running 
past the batteries in the night, and then ferrying the 
army over. Good roads would give him control of the 
country in the rear ; and he would besiege Vicksburg by 
land, while the gunboats should prevent relief by the 
river. 

It is undoubtedly an immense satisfaction to a com- 
manding officer to know that his plans will be carried 
out, not merely according to the letter of the law, but 
without a constant looking for predicted failure ; that 
they commend themselves to the judgment, if not to the 

102 



Running the Batteries. 103 

admiration, of his subordinates. Before the battle of 
Aboukir, Nelson called his captains into his cabin, and 
explauied to them his plan of battle by doubling on a 
portion of the enemy's fleet ; and, as his officers began 
to understand it, Capt. Barry, in his enthusiasm, jumped 
to his feet, and exclaimed, " If we succeed, what Avill the 
world say of us ? " Nelson, with equal enthusiasm, 
sprang up, and exclaimed, "But there is no if in the 
case: we shall succeed." No one there uttered the 
opinion afterwards expressed by Cooper, — that with 
American vessels it would fail ; and the ardor and confi- 
dence of the officers was felt the next day by every man 
and powder-boy throughout the English fleet. 

When Gen. Grant made known his plan to a council 
of his corps commanders, not one approved it. The 
plan was opposed to military rule. It severed his army 
from the North and its supplies. If not an immediate 
success, it must end in overwhelming disaster. All his 
officers — Sherman, McPherson, Logan, Wilson, all able 
men, all attached to their commander, and anxious he 
should not fail — argued the points against the project. 
Sherman, after reflecting, could not restrain himself li'om 
renewing the debate. Grant knew his friendship, his 
sincerity, and his ability. Sherman even rode up to 
Grant's headquarters the next day, and presented his 
views, respectfully of course, but earnestly, as an earnest 
man does every thing. 

He assured Grant that the only way to take Vicks- 
burg was to move on it fi'om some high ground as a 
base, on the north. " This," said Grant, " will require 
us to go back to Memphis." 

" Exactly so," said Sherman, and set forth his reasons 



104 Life of General Grant. 

with the intensity of conviction and the ingenuity and 
abihty of an able soldier. 

Grant replied, " I shall take no step backward : it 
would seem to the country, now discouraged, like a re- 
treat. I have considered the plan, and have determined 
to carry it out." 

Sherman left ; but the strength of his convictions, the 
vast importance of the movement to the nation and the 
army, would not allow him to leave the subject thus ; 
and he carefully committed his views to paper, and on 
the 8th of April forwarded them to headquarters, con- 
cluding; with these noble words, so honorable to him as 
a patriot and a soldier ; " I make these suggestions with 
the request that Gen. Grant simply read them, and give 
them, as I know he will, a share of his thoughts. I would 
prefer he should not answer them, but merely give them 
as much or as little weight as they deserve. Whatever 
plan of action he may adopt will receive from me the 
same zealous co-operation and energetic support as 
though conceived by myself." 

And here is one of the points of moral grandeur in 
the career of Grant. Those who would understand his 
character should observe him at this juncture. This 
single man — newspapers, politicians, army officials at 
^V^ashington, clamoring for his removal, he acknowledg- 
ing his failure thus far, his present plan opposed ear- 
nestly by all his officers — sees the path of duty before him 
gleaming with light in the surrounding darkness, and 
walks in it with unfaltering step. How many men 
were there in the countrv who would have o-one on ? 

It had been said early in the war that the North had 
no cavalry, and nothing to make cavalry out of; that 



Running the Batteries. 105 

the Southern men were born riders ; and in tliis arm of 
the service, which Napoleon pronounced the most impor- 
tant in war,* the South would always be infinitely supe- 
rior to their opponents. 

Gen. Scott, whose opinions at the opening of the 
war, whether with or without reason, were supreme, 
declared we needed no cavalry ; and, in consequence, 
thousands of cavalry were refused when offering to 
enlist. The few regiments accepted were attached to 
different corps, and, when used, were generally sent out 
in small numbers. 

It was the fashion to ridicule the efficiency of the 
cavalry. The sarcasm of a distinguished major-general 
in asking, after a battle, " if any one ever saw a dead 
cavalry-man," was often repeated. Under Grant, the 
cavalry became a power, as it deserved to be ; and 
expeditions, ten and fifteen thousand strong, were sent 
out, and used effectively until the close of the war. 

While studying his campaign. Grant wrote to Hurl- 
but, " It seems to me that Grierson, with about five 
hundred picked men, might succeed in cutting his way 
south, and cut the railroad east of Jackson, Miss. The 
undertaking would be a hazardous one ; but it would 
pay well if carried out." 

This railroad was the principal artery for supplies to 
Vicksburg. Col. B. H. Grierson of the Sixth Illinois 
was at La Grange, Tenn., with seventeen hundred 

* " My decided opinion," said Napoleon, " is tliat cavalry, if led by equally 
brave and resolute men, must always break mfantry." — Las Casas, vii. 184. 

"It was by cavalry that Hannibal conquered at Ticino; a charge of 
French horsemen at Marengo placed Napoleon on the consular throne ; an- 
other of the English light dragoons on the flank of the Old Guard hurled 
him to the rock of St. Helena." — Alison. 



106 Life of General Grant. 

men, including the Sixth and Seventh Illinois and 
Second Iowa, with Col. Prince and Col. Hatch. Grier- 
son started April 17 ; passed through Ripley, behind 
all the Confederate forces, through Pontatoc, Clear 
Spring, Louisville, Newton, burning bridges, cutting 
telegraph-wires, tearing up railroads, destroying prop- 
erty of the rebel government wherever found, passing 
through forests and swamps, and swimming rivers. At 
Newton, they turned south - west, towards Raleigh ; 
thence to Gallatin, Avhere they captured a 32-pound 
rifled Parrott and fourteen hundred pounds of powder ; 
then to Union Church behind Natchez, where they had 
a skirmish ; then to Brookhaven, where they burned 
the station-house, cars, and bridges of the New-Orleans 
and Jackson Railroad; thence to Greenburg, La., hav- 
ing a fio'ht at Amite River. 

May 2, the people of Baton Rouge were astounded 
at the arrival of a courier, who announced that a 
brigade of cavalry from Gen. Grant's army had cut 
their way through the whole of the State of Mississippi, 
and would arrive in an hour. They w^ere met at the 
picket-line, and escorted into Gen. Banks's camp amid 
the vociferous cheers of their astonished friends. 

In sixteen days they had ridden six hundred miles 
through the heart of one of the richest remons of the 
Confederacy, traversing the whole length of INIissis- 
sippi ; killed and wounded one hundred of the enemy ; 
captured and paroled five hundred prisoners ; destroyed 
three thousand stand of arms, and six million dollars' 
worth of Confederate supplies, and property of various 
kinds, with a loss of three men killed and twenty-five 
horses. Thousands of rebel cavalry were sent out froiix 



Running the Batteries. . 107 

Jackson and fi'om Vicksburg ; but the cliivalrj never 
could find them. 

Grierson's expedition was one of the most brilhant 
cavahy exploits of the Avar, and will be long remem- 
bered. 

The raid withdrew attention somewhat from Grant, 
and was of essential service to his army m its new 
movement. 

On the 29th of March, Gen. McClernand, with the 
Thirteenth Army Corps, was ordered to move down to 
New Carthage. The winter overflow had hardly sub- 
sided, and the roads were wet and spongy. 

On arrival, it was found that the levee of the Bayou 
Vidal, which here empties into the Mississippi, had 
broken, leaving New Carthage an island. It Avas found 
necessarv, therefore, to march the army to Perkins's 
Plantation, tAvelve miles beloAV, and thirty-fiA-e miles 
from Milliken's Bend. Four bridges, tAvo of them six 
hundred feet long, Avere required during this march. 
Ammunition and provisions Avere carted along this route 
Avith incredible labor. 

It was now determined to send three steamers and 
ten barges, loaded Avith rations and forage, past the bat- 
teries. Grant applied to Admiral Porter, who entered 
cordially into the undertaking. Grant wrote, " I am 
happy to say the admiral and myself have never yet 
disagreed upon any policy." 

The passage would be a terrible one, — to many it 
might be like embarking on the river of death. Some 
of the captains and crcAvs of the river-steamboats Avere 
uuAA-illing to make the attempt; and the trip was so 
hazardous, that the officers preferred to call for volun- 



108 Life of General Grant. 

teers rather than order men to the duty. But volunteers 
enough pressed forward to man twenty fleets. None 
would give way ; and the places were at last assigned 
by lot. One boy, residing near Grant's home in Illinois, 
who had drawn a chance to go, was offered a hundred 
dollars for his ])lace ; but the post of danger Avas the 
post of honor. The boy indignantly refused the money ; 
took his position, like young Casablanca at the battle of 
the Nile, and passed bravely through. 

As soon as the wants of the service were known, the 
army seemed to swarm with boatmen, pilots, and engi- 
neers, as the Massachusetts regiments under Butler, 
in their first march to Washington, furnished at a 
moment's call men who could make steam-engines and 
build railroads.* 

One officer Avrote, that if orders were given, '' Paint- 
ers, present arms ! " or " Poets, to the fi'ont ! " or 
" Sculptors, charge bayonets I " dozens in every com- 
pany would respond. Hundreds of young men in our 
colleo-es, nurtured in wealth and luxury, flung aside 
their books, cheerfully endured the privations and hard- 
ships of camp-life, and in battle bore themselves with 
inspiring gallantry, like young Lowell, Avho was shot on 
his fourteenth charger. f 

It was the rare accomplishment in a private soldier, 

* " Does any one here know any thing about this macliine? " said Gen. 
Butler at Annapolis, when surveying a nisty and dilapidated locomotive. 
A soldier of the Massachusetts Eighth answered, " Our shop made that 
engine, general. I guess I can put her in order and run her;" and it was 
done. 

t " As to the way in which some of our ensigns and lieutenants braved 
danger, — the boys just come from school, — it exceeds all belief. They 
ran as at cricket." — WMirKjtim on Waterloo. 



Running the Batteries. 109 

of beino- able to write, which first made Marshal Junot 
known to Napoleon. But the Union army was com- 
posed of men who could fight wdien fighting was to be 
done ; and it furnished sailors, scholars, engineers, me- 
chanics, for every exigency which war could require. 

It was ten o'clock at night, on the 16th, when the 
fleet started down the river. There was no moon. 
The intrepid Porter led the way in "The Benton," 
followed by "The Lafayette," " Carondelet," "Pitts- 
burg," " Tuscumbia," " Price," " Louisville," and 
" Mound City." 

Between eleven and twelve, there was a flash on the 
high bluff above them ; and in an instant the batteries 
along the whole water-front were thundering at the 
fleet, and kept up a terrific cannonade. The boats im- 
mediately replied with grape and shrapnel, which took 
effect on the city rather than on the batteries. Houses 
were soon blazing. The shells from the batteries lighted 
the hay en one or two of the large transports, the flames 
mounting up the sky. The transports were cut loose 
from the gunboats, and, floating down the river like great 
palaces of fire, Avere reflected on the dark waters beneath 
them. The flames, tosshig and swaying in the midnight 
wind, looked like meteor-flags streaming out from battle- 
ment and tower. The whole heavens w^ere lighted up 
so clearly, that the men at the guns and in the streets of 
Vicksburg were seen as plainly as at noonday. The 
population were out, watching a display of fireworks 
grand beyond description. For about three hours, 
nearly two hundred heavy guns were hurling their 
deadly missiles at the brave fleet, which passed tri- 
umphantly on. 



110 Life of General Grant. 

Grant watched the operations with intense interest 
from a transport moored in the middle of the river, 
where the shot and shell fell thick about him. 

Within two hours after the batteries had been passed, 
the whole scene was changed : the guns were silent ; the 
dark river was flowing as peacefully, the stars were shin- 
ing as brightly, as when the Indian first paddled his 
canoe along its waters. 

As may be imagined, the fate of the expedition had 
been anxiously watched by McPherson's men below. 
The first herald was a transport burning to the water's 
edge, followed by the wreck of one of the barges. An 
old man, a wealthy rebel, on whose plantation McPher- 
son had established his headquarters, could not conceal 
his delight from the Union officers, and confidently pre- 
dicted the destruction of the whole Union fleet. The 
officers watched anxiously ; and, soon after daybreak, one 
gunboat after another came steaming around a bend in 
the river, the old flag dancing in the early sunlight ; and 
the cheers went up loud and long. It was in a double 
sense the dawning of a new day for that brave army. 
But it was too much for the old rebel ; and that day, in 
his impotent wrath, he set fire to his splendid residence. 

He had enriched himself on the unrequited toil of his 
slaves. The estate was one of the most princely in 
Louisiana. It seemed to realize Wirt's description of 
Blannerhassett's home : " He had reared upon it a 
palace, and decorated it with every embellishment of 
fancy. Shrubbery that Shenstone might have envied 
bloomed around him. Music that might have charmed 
Calypso and her nymphs was his." The elegant man- 
sion, embowered in overarching trees, was situated on 



Running the Batteries. Ill 

an eminence, and connnanded a view of varied and sur- 
passing loveliness. The majestic river in its windings 
seemed lingering to reflect and beautify the scene. 
Though spring, all around bespoke the luxury of early 
summer. The warm, genial air, vocal with song of 
birds, was laden with perfumes of the oleander and 
the blossoms of the magnoha. The broad savannas 
were waving with corn and cotton. Figs grew in the 
open air. Nature seemed here to have spread a banquet 
of festal glory. But, in a few hours, all was changed. 
The house was a mass of blackened ruins. The grounds, 
which had smiled with a beauty which would " re-create 
the lost Eden anew," were transformed into a crowded 
and noisy camp. 

Foolish old man ! and yet in this act, which would 
have been denounced as vandalism in the Union army, 
he but imitated the leaders of the Rebellion, who sought 
to make themselves the architects of a far grander ruin, 
— the ruins of the temple of American hberty. 



CHAPTER XI. 

CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI. BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON. 

THE troops were now to be crossed over the river. 
It was decided to land them at the most southern 
pomt of the rebel batteries, — at Grand Gulf, seventy- 
five miles below Milliken's Bend. Reconnoissances had 
shown this to be the only practicable spot for landing. 
Transportation-boats were insufficient; and the army 
marched through mud and mire to a place appropriately 
called " Hard Times," opposite Grand Gulf. 

The gunboats were to silence the batteries ; and then 
the troops, ten thousand in number, were to be crossed 
in such boats as there were, and carry the works at the 
point of the bayonet. 

At eight o'clock on the morning of the 29th, the iron- 
clads, seven in number, opened fire, and continued the 
bombardment for nearly six hours. The intrenchments 
were high up on the bluffs above them : the stream was 
too deep to anchor, and too rapid to lie still ; thus com- 
pelling the boats to sail about as they fired. 

The fleet did every thing that a fleet could do ; but 
all in vain. The batteries were too high up to be dam- 
aged. Grant said, " ]\Iany times, it seemed to me the 
gunboats were within pistol-shot of the enemy's bat- 

112 



Crossing the Mississippi. 113 

teries." But, at half-past one, not a single gun had been 
silenced. It was a most unfortunate repulse. 

Grant knew it would be simply a massacre of his men 
to lead them against such works ; but he knew, also, no 
such word as " fail." His definition of the word "■ dif- 
ficulty " was a thing to be overcome.. He signalled to 
the admiral, and was immediately put on board the flag- 
ship, where he requested that the fleet would run the 
batteries the same night as a cover to the transports, 
while the troops marched farther down the river. 

It was expected they would be obliged to march south 
as far as Rochiey before they could efi'ect a crossing ; but 
a "contraband," durincr the night, told them of an ex- 
cellent road at Bruinsburg, only half-way to Rochiey, 
which led du'ectly to Port Gibson, in the interior. 

At this time, Grant desired an attack to be made on 
Haine's Bluff, above, to cfivert the attention of the en- 
emy from his real movement, to the rear of Vicksburg ; 
but it was only to be a feigned attack, and tlien the 
army were to withdraw. He hesitated to order Sher- 
man to make an attack and fall back at this tune. It 
would be misunderstood at the North. It woidd be 
published as another defeat, and stimulate still more the 
efforts for his removal. Sherman, as well as Grant, had 
been subjected to the harshest censiu'es for the failures 
to take Vicksburg. But Grant wrote to him, still re- 
maining at ]\lilliken's Bend, " The effect of a heavy 
demonstration in that direction would be good so far as 
the enemy are concerned ; but I am loath to order it, 
because it would be so hard to make our own troops un- 
derstand that only a demonstration was intended, and 
our people at home would characterize it as a repulse." 
b 



114 Life of General Grant. 

But Sherman replied, " I believe a diversion at 
Haine's Bluff is proper and right, and will make it, 
let whatever reports of repulses be made." 

This incident brings out in admirable light the rare 
friendship of these remarkable men. 

Sherman at once moved ten regiments up the Yazoo, 
who were landed and disposed as if to make a formi- 
dable attack. The gunboats, which had been left at 
the bend, commenced a furious bombardment. These 
movements created great excitement in Vicksburg. 
" There was mounting ii> hot haste ; " troops were hur- 
ried from one point to another. For two days and 
nights, Sherman kept up active preparations for an attack 
of the most threatening character, when he received the 
following from Grant : " Move up to Perkins's Plan- 
tation with two divisions of your corps as rapidly as 
possible." 

He at once retired, and hurried down the river, not 
having lost a single man. The news went over the 
country of "another repulse at Haine's BluflF; " the 
rebels shouted over another victory won. Vicksburg is 
impregnable ! 

Grant had only passed Grand Gulf ; had not begun 
his march to Jackson ; and, while all seemed dark to 
others, he was full of confidence, and wrote to Halleck, 
" I feel now that the battle is half over:' Four days 
after, he wrote, " In two weeks, I expect to be able to 
collect all my forces, and turn the enemy's left." 

As the gunboats were now all at Grand Gulf, Gen. 
Grant was apprehensive that tlie rebels might send an 
armed steamer down the Big Black River, turn north, 
and attack him at Perkins's, where he had accumulatcMl 



Crossing the Mississippi. 115 

stores and ammunition. To meet any such emergency, 
he constructed a gunboat by placing some pieces of 
hght artillery on board one of the transports, and had 
fom- 30-pound Parrott guns dragged by oxen to a com- 
manding position on the river, ready for immediate 
service. 

Port Gibson is in the rear of the works at Grand 
Gulf, about twelve miles from B'ruinsburg, on the route 
to Jackson and also to Vicksburg. The capture of 
Port Gibson would carry also the fall of Grand Gulf. 

Grant hurried his army across the river with the 
utmost speed, that he might advance before the enemy 
should be aware of his plans. To the quartermaster 
he wrote in regard to loading rations, " Do this with 
all expedition, in forty-eight hours : time is of immense 
importance.^'' 

He thus cuts away the " red tape " of the chief 
commissary's department : " You will issue to the 
troops of this command, without provision-returns,* for 
their subsistence the next jive days, three rations." 

Every tug, boat, and barge was crowded to its 
utmost in taking the men over the river, which is here 
a mile in width. And Admiral Porter, who also knew 
the value of time, offered the naval vessels for the un- 
usual work of ferry-boats, and loaded them with men 
and guns, in cordial sympathy with Gen. Grant's ener- 
getic movements. The navy could not follow the army 
on dry land ; but it could go with them to the water's 
edge, and bid them " God speed." 

Not a single tent, nor any personal baggage, was 

* " Provisioii-retunis " arotechnic.il vouchers required of each officer 
drawing rations, involving formality and delay. 



116 Life of General Grant. 

allowed to go over, not even the horses of the general 
and staff, until the troops were landed. Hon. Mr. 
Washburne, the early and eloquent friend of Gen. 
Grant, who was with the army at this time, thus 
writes : — 

" In starting on the movement, the general disencumbered him- 
self of every thing, setting, an example to his officers and men. 
He took neither a horse nor a servant, overcoat nor blanket, nor 
tent nor camp-chest, nor even a clean shirt. His only baggarje 
consisted of a tooth-brush. He always showed his teeth to the 
rebels. He shared all the hardships of the private soldier ; sleep- 
ing in the tmnt and in the open air, and eating hard-tack and 
salt pork. He wore no sword, had on a low-crowned citizen's hat ; 
and the only thing about him to mark him as a military man was 
his two stars on his undress military coat." 

It was about an hour before sunset that the Thir- 
teenth Corps led the way from the bluffs in this the 
last and successful expedition for the capture of Vicks- 
burg. The scene was inspiring. Behind them was 
the broad river ; around and before tliem was the ver- 
dure of midsummer. The air was loaded with per- 
fumes, the corn was waving, the magnolia was in full 
blossom. The peaceful beauty of the landscape was in 
strange contrast with the glittering bayonets, the rolling 
drums, and the warlike appearance of the military 
array. The army advanced qitietly until about two 
o'clock, when they encountered a rebel force of about 
eleven thousand men, in a strong position, under Gen. 
Bowen. After a light fire from the infantry, both 
armies waited the coming of daylight before opening 
battle. The nature of the ground was peculiar : the 
roads were on ridges, with ravines on each side choked 



J 



Battle of Tort Gibson. 117 

up Avith magnolia trees and vines, and gave the rebels 
opportunity to contest with great advantage the 
advance of the Union army- On the right, McCler- 
nand advanced with Generals Carr, Hovey, and A. J. 
Smith ; and the left was under the command of Oster- 
haus. 

The right advanced steadily, pressing back the 
enemy ; but an almost impassable ravine resisted the 
left wing. About noon. Grant ordered two brigades of 
Losan's division, and Smith's brigade, to attack and 
outflank the enemy on the left. Grant and ]McPherson 
both accompanied the advance. Soon after, a general 
charge was ordered ; and the enemy gave way in all 
directions. Before sunset, the enemy were retreating 
toward Port Gibson, leaving their dead and wounded on 
the field. 

They were pursued to within two miles of Port 
Gibson, when darkness and the danger of ambuscades 
rendered it necessary to rest till daylight. But, lest 
the enemy should attempt a retreat, Grant's orders to 
McClernand were, " Push the enemy, with skirmishers 
well thrown out, until it gets too dark to see him. 
Park your artillery so as to command the surrounding 
country, and renew the attack at early dawn. . . . No 
camp-fires should be allowed, unless in deep ravines 
and in rear of the troops." 

Grant took six hundred and fifty prisoners, four flags, 
six field-guns ; and nearly eight hundred of the enemy 
were killed or wounded. Among the former was Gen. 
Tracy. Our loss was one hundred and thirty killed, 
and about seven hundred wounded. The landing 
at Bruinsburg, and the rapid advance of the Fed- 



118 Life of General Grant. 

eral troops, had surprised and disconcerted the enemy ; 
and Gen. Pemberton, in command of the department, 
telegraphed at once to Gen. J. E. Johnston, " A furi- 
ous battle has been going on since daylight, just below 
Port Gibson. Enemy can cross all his army from 
Hard Times to Bruinsburo;. I should have large re- 
enforcements. Enemy's movements threaten Jackson, 
and, if successful, cut off Vicksburg and Port Hud- 
son." 

To this, Johnston gave the best possible advice (no 
one could have given better) : " Unite your troops, and 
beat Grant : " its only infirmity was the difficulty of 
carrying it out. 

In the morning, it was found that the enemy had 
evacuated Port Gibson, and burned the bridge, one 
hundred and twenty feet long, across Bayou Pierre, to 
prevent pm'suit. It was rebuilt with great energy. 
Houses were torn down to furnish timber, and the men 
worked up to their waists in water. Meanwhile, a part 
of Logan's command succeeded in fording the stream, 
and pushed on with impatience after the retreating foe. 

Crocker's division of McPherson*s corps had been 
ferried over the river, had filled their haversacks with 
three days' rations, which were to last five days, and 
also hurried forward. Three miles beyond Port Gib- 
son, the troops came upon some fifty thousand weight 
of hams in fine order, which the rebels had left by the 
road in their flight. The pursiiit was kept up, with 
occasional skirmishing, to the Big Black River, fifteen 
miles beyond Port Gibson, and within eighteen miles of 
the city of Vicksburg. Pemberton might well ask for 
"large re-enforcements." 



Battle of Port Gibson. 119 

As Grant had foreseen, the capture of Port Gibson 
carried -with it the fall of Grand Gulf; and the next 
morning he rode over to this place with a small 
cavalry escort to learn that the enemy had abandoned 
the whole country, from the Bayou Pierre to the Big 
Black River north. He at once took possession, and 
gave orders to make Grand Gulf his base of supphes, 
instead of Bniinsbui'g. 

The magazines had been blown up, and the guns 
buried or spiked. They had not been removed by the 
enemy, for the following excellent reason, given in 
Gen. Pemberton's report: "aS'o rapid ivere his^' 
[Grant's] " movements, that it was impracticable to 
withdraw the heavy gunsy 

Grant had not had his clothes off for three days and 
nights : his only baggage was a tooth-brush, his only 
indulgence a cigar. He now went on board one of the 
gunboats, borrowed a change of linen, and wrote until 
near morning. 

To Gen. Halleck he announced the victory in the 

followino; modest terms : — 

Grand Gulf, Miss., May 3, 1863. 
Major-Gen. Halleck, General-in-Chief, — 

We lauded at Bruinsburg, April 30 ; moved immediately on 
Port Gibson ; met the enemy, eleven thousand strong, fom* miles 
south of Port Gibson, at two o'clock, a.m., on the 1st instant, 
and engaged, him all day, entirely routing him, with the loss of 
many killed, and about five hundred prisoners, besides the 
wounded. Our loss is about one hundred killed, and five hundred 
wounded. 

The enemy retreated towards Vicksburg, destroying the 
bridges over the two forks of the Bayou Pierre. These were 
rebuilt ; and the pursuit has continued until the present time. 
Besides the heavy artillery at the place, four field-pieces were 



120 Life of General Grant. 

captured, and some stores ; and the enemy were driven to destroy 
many more. The country is the most broken and difficult to 
operate in I ever saw. Our victory has been most complete, and 
the enemy is thoroughly demoralized. 

But Gov. Yates of Illinois, avIio was with the army, 
had no disposition for such moderation ; and he tele- 
graphed as follows : — 

Grand Gulf, Miss., May 4, lf63. 

Our arms are gloriously triumphant. We have succeeded in 
winning a victory, which, in its results, must be the most important of 
the war. The battle of May 1 lasted from eight o'clock in the 
morning until night, dm-ing all which time the enemy was driven 
back on the right, left, and centre. All day yesterday, our army 
was in pursuit of the rebels ; they giving us battle at almost every 
defensible point, and fighting with desperate valor. Last night, 
a large force of the enemy was driven across Black River ; and 
Gen. Mc demand was driving another large force in the direction 
of Willow Springs. About two o'clock yesterday, I left Gen. 
Logan with his division, in pursuit of the enemy, to join Gen. 
Grant at Grand Gulf, wliich the enemy had evacuated in the 
morning ; first blowing up their magazines, spiking their cannon, 
destroying tents, &c. On my tcay to Grand Gulf, I saw yuns 
scattered all along the road, which the enemy had left in their retreat. 
The rebels were scattered through the woods in every direction. 
This army of the rebels was considered, as I now learn, invincible ; 
but it quailed before the irresistible assaults of Xorth-western valor. 

1 consider Vicksburg as ours in a short time, and the Mis- 
sissippi River is destined to be open from its source to its mouth. 

I have been side by side with our boys in battle, and can bear 
witness to the unfaltering courage and prowess of our brave 
IlUnoisians. 



CHAPTER XII. 



GRAND GULF CAPTURED. 



a RANT bad now obtained a footbold on tbe high 
ground he bad been fighting for during five 
months. He had captured Grand Gulf, one of the strong 
outworks of Vicksburg. He had won a splendid victory. 
It was the beginnino- of the end. The foregoing de- 
spatches show the style in which the achievements were 
narrated by Grant and by an impartial observer. 

Grant had now to decide on his plan of operations. 
He had thirty-five thousand men in his command, of 
whom he wrote, " j\Iy army is composed of hardy and 
disciplined men, who know no defeat, and are not wilhng 
to learn Avhat it is." 

He was in the State of Mississippi, the home of Jef- 
ferson Davis, in a region wholly given over to secession. 
Shall he advance at once on Vicksburg, and begin the 
siege where Pemberton, by his report, has 59,411 men ? 
or shall he go north and east, and meet the force gathering 
under Gen. Gregg with numbers unknown ? If he sits 
down to besiege Vicksburg, Gregg will be upon his rear ; 
if he attacks Gregg, Pemberton will be upon his rear. 
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who had entire command of 
the rebel armies in that region, was moving toward 
Jackson, the capital of the State, and only fifty miles 



122 Life of General Gkant. 

distant, with railroad communication in various direc- 
tions. The question must be decided at once. 

Grant determined to move east, to Jackson ; attack 
and beat Gregg and the army there, before Pemberton 
should know of his plan, or could march to interfere 
with him ; then return, and beat Pemberton ; or, if he 
retired into Vicksburg, besiege and capture it. But to 
do this before the rebel armies can unite and overwhelm 
him requires energy and speed not often exhibited. The 
army must be hurled with its whole force, first in one 
direction, then in another, as with the will of a single 
man. 

He cannot leave part of his force to watch and fight 
Pemberton while he goes east to fio;ht Greo-o;. This 
Avoukl require two armies, and he has but one. 

But, if he strikes out with thirty-five thousand men 
into the heart of the Confederacy, how is he to feed 
them ? His supplies, brought from Milliken's Bend, are 
now to be sent from Grand Gulf. But Pemberton can 
easily send a force to intervene between his army and 
its base. 

Grant determined to take what supplies he could, 
leave his base to care for itself, feed his army from the 
country tlirough which he moved, fight his battles as 
fast as possible, then turn west, and return to Vicks- 
burg. But he knew well that the cautious mind of Gen. 
Halleck, sitting in his ofiice at Washington, would never 
sym[)athize with his views ; and he thought his only 
method was to do it, and ask permission afterward. So 
he proclaimed no plans in advance, but reported regu- 
larly results as they occurred. We shall see that he 
judged correctly. They were studying the maps in 



i 



Grand Gulf Captured. 123 

Washino;ton at this time, and tellino; him where ho 
ought to go. But there was no telegraph beyond Cairo, 
and it was a long way for letters to be sent from Cairo 
to the interior of Mississippi ; and he would act so 
rapidly, that, when they arrived, they would be found 
to relate to past events. It is well to contemplate him 
here. Gen. Badeau says, — 

" So Grant was alone. His most trusted associates besought 
him to change his plans ; while his superiors were astounded by his 
temerity, and strove to intei-fere. Soldiers of reputation, and civilians 
in high place, condemned in advance a campaign that seemeil 
to them as hopeless as it was unprecedented. If he failed, the 
country would concur with the government and the generals. Grant 
knew all this, and appi'eciated his danger, but was as invulnerable 
to the apprehensions of ambition as to the entreaties of friendship, 
or the anxieties even of patriotism. That quiet confidence which 
never forsook him, and which amounted, indeed, almost to a feeling 
of fate, was uninterrupted. Having once determined in a matter 
that required irreversible decision, he never reversed, nor even 
misgave, but was steadily loyal to himself and his plans. This 
absolute and implicit faith was, however, as far as possible fi'om 
conceit or enthusiasm. It was simply a consciousness, or convic- 
tion rather, which brought the very strength it believed in ; which 
was itself strength ; and which inspired others with a trust in him, 
because he was able thus to trust himself." 

At midnight of the 3d he had taken farewell of Grand 
Gulf in his own mind, and was on his way to Hankin- 
son's Ferry, on the Big Black River. But his orders 
show his state of mind. Sherman's corps was hurried 
across the river. Supplies were wagoned sixty miles 
from Milliken's Bend, ferried over the river, and carted 
eighteen miles farther. 

To Sherman he wrote, " Order forward immediately 



124 Life of General Grant. 

your remaining division, leaving only two regiments (to 
guard Richmond), as required in previous orders. Have 
all the men leave the west bank of the river with three 
days' rations in haversacks, and make all possible 
despatch to Grand Gulf." 

To Hurlbut he orders, " Four regiments to Milliken's 
Bend with the utmost despatch." " Take them from 
the troops most convenient to transportation." 

To the commissary at Grand Gulf, " You will load 
all teams presenting themselves for rations with prompt- 
ness and despatch, regardless of requisitions or provision- 
returns. There must be no delay on account of either 
lack of energy or formality." 

To one of his staff superintending affairs at Grand 
Gulf he says, " See that the commissary at Grand Gulf 
loads all the wagons presenting themselves for stores 
with great promptness. Issue any order in my name 
that may be necessary to secure the greatest promptness 
in this respect. . . . Every day's delay is worth two 
thousand men to the enemy." 

To the skme officer, two or three days after, "Send 
me a report of about the number of rations on hand, 
and send forward to Grand Gulf. Send also to 
McFeely and Bingham, and remind them of the im- 
portance of rushing forward rations with all despatcli. 
. . . How many teams have -been loaded with rations 
and sent forward '? I want to know, as near as possible, 
how we stand, in every particular, for supplies. How 
many wagons have you ferried over the river? How 
many are still to bring over ? What teams have gone 
back for rations ? " 

To Hurlbut, who was to remain at Memphis, he 



Grand Gulf Captured. 125 

wrote, " You will have a large force of cavalry : use it 
as much as possible in attracting attention from this 
du-ection. Impress upon the cavalry the necessity of 
keeping out of people's houses, or of taking what is of no 
use to them in a military point of view. . . . They must 
live as far as possible off the country through which they 
pass, and destroy corn, wheat-crops, and every thing 
that can be made use of by the enemy in prolonging 
the war. Mules and horses are to be taken to supply 
all our own wants; and, when it does not cause too 
much delay, agricultural implements may be destroyed : 
in other words, cripple in every way, without insulting 
women and children, or taking theb clothes, jewelry, 
&c." 

These, and many other despatched that could be 
quoted, show, better than could any comments, the 
varied and multitudinous cares which pressed upon the 
mind of Gen. Grant at this time. They show, that, Avhile 
major-general, he could be quartermaster, commissary, 
ordnance-officer, and even ferryman. Nothing essen- 
tial to the one grand object, success, was too great or 
too small for him to grasp with all his energy. He 
pressed his orders with all the more force and exact- 
ness because he knew that the campaign was in defiance 
of rules : it was his own. 

Near the battle-field of Leuthen,the traveller is still 
shown the tree under Avhich Frederick the Great assem- 
bled his generals, and said, " The moment for courage 
has come. I am resolved, against all rales of the art 
of tear, to attack the army of Charles of Lorraine 
wherever I may find it. There is no question of the 
number of the enemy or the strength of his position. 



126 Life of Geneeal Grant, 

We must beat them, or find our graves before their bat- 
teries ^ 

It was not until his arrival at Hankinson's Ferry 
that the personal baggage and horses of Gen. Grant 
and staff arrived. Previous to this he had slept in the 
porch of the nearest house, and eaten at the table of 
the officer near whom he happened to be. He ordered 
reconnoissances to be made by the cavalry on the roads 
leading up to Vicksburg, to keep alive in the enemy the 
belief that he intended to march in that direction. 

On the 8th, Grant had his headquarters at Rocky 
Springs. Sherman, who was still solicitous about the 
result of the campaign, did not see the possibility of the 
army abandoning its base ; and wrote from Hankinson's 
in regard to the crowd of men, wagons, and trains, ur- 
ging him to " stop all troops till your army is partially 
supplied with wagons, and then act as quick as possible ; 
for this road will be jammed, as sure as life, if you 
attempt to supply fifty thousand men by one single 
road." 

To this Grant replied, " I do not calculate upon the 
possibility of supplying the army with full rations from 
Grand Gulf. I know it will be impossible without con- 
structing additional roads. What I do expect, however, 
is to get up what rations of hard-bread, coffee, and salt, 
we c'an, and make the country furnish the balance. . . . 
You are in a country where the troops have already 
lived off the people for some days, and may find pro- 
visions more scarce ; but, as we get upon new soil, 
they are more abundant, particularly in corn and 
cattle." 

Grant was hero acting on the policy which he deter- 



A 



Grand Gulf Captured. 127 

mined to be the only one practicable to end the Rebel- 
lion ; and that was, to make the Rebellion furnish tlife 
supplies for the Union army. He had never, in the 
earliest days of the war, sent back a trembling fugitive 
with his compliments to his master. He had never 
detailed soldiers along the line of his march to guard 
the flowers and fruit of rebel officers. The rebels them- 
selves had taught him that the Government must brino; 
the war home to the slaveholders of the South, and 
compel them to feel the consequences of their acts in 
consuming power. It was his belief, that, the quicker 
this was done, the quicker the war would end. 

On the 11th of May, Grant sent word, to Halleck, 
" My forces will be this evening as far advanced to- 
wards Jackson as Fourteen-mile Creek. As I shall 
communicate with G-rand Grulf no more, except it be- 
comes necessary to send a train with heavy escort, i/ou 
may not hear from me again for several days.'''' 

The same day, and almost the same hour, Halleck, 
from his desk at Wasliinoton, was orderino; Grant on a 
far different expedition, as follows. He said, " If pos- 
sible, the forces of yourself and Banks should be united 
between Vicksburg and Port Hudson, so as to attack 
these places separately with the combined forces." Sin- 
gular position in which a commanding general finds it 
necessary to use strategy both with the enemy and his 
superior at Washington ! 

At this time, the Hon. J. J. Pettus, Governor of 
Mississippi, determined to test the effects of a proclama- 
tion addressed to the whole State, in retarding the 
advance of the Union armies. The principal portions 
are as follow : — 



128 Life of General Grant. 

Executive Office, Jacksox, Miss., May 5, 1863, 
To the People of Mississippi, — 

Recent events, familiar to you all, imiiel me, as your chief magis- 
trate, to appeal to yoiu* patriotism for united effort in expelling our 
enemies from the soil of Mississippi. It can and must be done. Let 
no man capable of bearing arms witlihold from liis State his ser- 
vices in repelling the invasion. Duty, interest, our common safety, 
demand every sacrifice necessary for the protection of our homes, 
our honor, liberty itself. . . . Awake, then, arouse, Mississippians, 
young and old, from your fertile plains, your beautiful towns and 
cities, your once quiet and happy, but now desecrated, homes ! 
Come and join j'our brothers in arms, your sons and neighbors, who 
are now baring their bosoms to the storm of battle at your very 
doors, and in defence of all you hold dear. . . . 

Fathers, brothers, Mississippians, icMle your sons and kindred 
are bravely fighting your battles on other fields, and shedding new lus- 
tre on your name, the burning disgrace of successful invasion of their 
homes, of insult and injury to their wives, mothers, and sisters, of rap- 
ine and ruin, with God's help, and by your assistance, shall never 
be written while a Mississippian lives to feel in his proud heart the 
scorching degradation ! . . . Let no man forego the proud distinction 
of being one of his country's defenders, or hereafter icear the dis- 
graceful badge of the dastardly traitor who refused to defend his 
home and his country ! 

John J. Pettus, Governor of Mississippi. 

Notwithstanding the proclamation of Gov. Pettus, 
the army advanced toward Jackson. It moved in two 
columns ; Generals Sherman and McClernand on the 
rio-ht, and Gen. McPherson on the left. 

About half-past three o'clock on the morning of the 
12th, Gen. Logan's division encountered the rebel ve- 
dettes near Raymond, under Gen. Gregg. Regiments 
were deployed, the cavalry called in, and preparations 
made for battle. A few hours later, the enemy were 
encountered, about six thousand strong, within two miles 



Grand Gulf Captured. 129 

of Raymond, strongly posted. Their artillery swept a 
bridge which it was necessary McPherson should cross: 
the infantry were posted on a range of hills to the 
riolit and left, and amono; ravines in front. 

The battle was to be fought here. Orders were sent 
back to clear the road of all trains, and move up the 
troops to the front. Before they could arrive, the 
enemy were beaten. 

As usual, they came on with a " yell," and with 
great fury rushed at De Golyer's (Eighth jMichigan) 
battery, but were driven back with grape and canister. 
The Twentieth, Sixty-eighth, and Seventy-eighth Ohio, 
and Thirteenth Illinois, were closely engaged with the 
enemy. Later, the rebels still holdmg their position, 
a charge was ordered by Gen. McPherson ; and the 
Eighth Illinois, led by Col. Sturgis, went in with fixed 
bayonets in fine style, broke their line, and drove them 
in disorder. During the battle, the Eighth Illinois 
and Seventh Texas Regiments, which had opposed each 
other at Fort Donelson, met again, and fought with 
unflinching ardor. The Eighth Missouri, an Irish 
regiment, fought with determined bravery. At Win- 
chester, two Irish regiments which had been pressed 
into the rebel service, refused, when brought on to the 
field, to fire on the American flag ; and at Freder- 
icksburg the Irish troops piled up their dead within 
forty feet of the muzzles of the rebel cannon. For 
centuries, at Fontenoy, at Albuera, at Waterloo, the 
valor of Irishmen has shed lustre on the flag of Eng- 
land in war, wdiich has returned them only persecution 
in peace. 

Logan, with the advance, pressed the retiring enemy, 



130 Life of General Grant. 

and at five o'clock entered Raymond in triumph. 
Generals McPherson and Logan were constantly under 
fire, animating the troops ; the latter having his horse 
shot under him. 

The enemy retreated toward Jackson. The relDcl 
loss was one hundred and three killed, and seven hun- 
dred and twenty wounded and taken prisoners. Our 
loss was sixty-nine killed, and about three hundred and 
sixty wounded and missing. 

At Raymond, the Union officers found newspapers 
published In Jackson the day previous, from which they 
learned, to their surprise, that the "Yankees had been 
whipped at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, and were 
falling back to seek the protection of their gunboats." 
It was by such falsehoods that the rebel press sought to 
deceive the people of the South. 

Pemberton had been entirely deceived by Grant and 
by himself. 

He had an invincible reluctance to change his 
base, and could not imagine that Grant had launched 
his columns into the country, to find their base in 
their haversacks and in the supplies around them. By 
advancing to Raymond, Grant exposed, of course, his 
line of communication with Grand Gulf; and Pem- 
berton thought it the highest generalship to move south 
to Raymond, and seize this line, which he believed 
indispensable to Grant's army. Pemberton said, " My 
own views were expressed as unfavorable to any move- 
ment which would remove me from my base, which 
was and is Vicksburg." 

But Pemberton, it is seen, was about to assail a line 
of communication which did not exist. Grant had 



Grand Gulf Captured. 131 

said, " I shall communicate with Grand Gull' no more." 
He would open a line of communication again with the 
North ; but it would not be mitil he had placed the old 
flag on the capitol of JNIississippi, and driven Pemberton 
and his army fifty miles back, within the intrenchments 
at Vicksburo;. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



BATTLE AT JACKSON. 



P EMBERTON now advanced his army to Edward's 
Station. On the 12th, he had telegraphed to 
Johnston, " The enemy is apparently moving his heavy 
force towards Edward's Depot. That will he the hattle- 
place.^^ 

Without knowledge of this telegram, of course, Grant, 
the same day (the 12th), wrote to McClernand, " Ed- 
ward's Station is evidently the point on the railroad the 
enemy have most prepared for receiving us. I there- 
fore want to keep up appearances of moving upon that 
place." The day Pemberton was thus theorizing. Grant 
fought and won the battle of Raymond against Gregg, 

O J c> OCT' 

far on the road to Jackson ; and that night he ordered 
McPherson to " march at daylight for Clinton and Jack- 
son." And to Sherman he wrote, " You will march at 
four, A.M., in the morning, and follow McPherson." 
At the same hour, he sent to McClernand, " Start with 
your three divisions as soon as possible, and on to Ray- 
mond.''^ 

McPherson, as ordered, had advanced on Clinton, 
where he arrii^ed about two o'clock, and immediately 
burned the bridges, tore up the railroad-track, and 
destroyed the telegraph. 



I 



132 



Battle at Jackson. 1-j3 

Sherman and his column arrived about the same 
time. That night, the 13th, Gen. Jolmston, a soldier 
of oenius and vigor, had arrived at Jackson to command 
the forces which were constantly forwarded there with 
all the energy of the leaders of the Rebelhon. Before 
he slept, he sent orders to Pemberton to attack the 
Federal troops at Clinton, saying, " To beat such a 
detachment would be of immense value. Time is all- 
important." Even Johnston did not understand that it 
was no " detachment " they would meet. 

The same night. Grant ordered the army to move at 
early dawn upon Jackson. On the morning of the 
14th, he sent word to Gen. Halleck of the battle at 
Raymond, and said, in closing his despatch, "I will 
attack the State capital to-day." Pemberton and his 
troops were busily strengthening Edward's Station, 
deceived by McClernand's pickets, and expecting an 
attack there ; but Grant and Pemberton were planning 
campaigns for different armies. 

It had rained hard during the night, increasing all 
the difficulties of the movement ; but the soldiers felt 
that they were marching from one victory at Raymond 
to another at Jackson, and pushed on in fine spirits. It 
was nine o'clock on the morning of the 14th when the 
rebel pickets were met and driven in about five miles 
out from Jackson. The army advanced, and found the 
enemy in force nearly two miles and a half beyond. 

Johnston was in command, with the flower of the 
Southern soldiery. Regiments were there from South 
Carolina and Georgia. Their batteries were posted on 
a semicircular ridge in the rear, and the infantry in 
front, in ravines traversed by a fence. 



134 Life of General Grant. 

While the regiments were moving into position, the 
rain was so violent, that every cartridge-box opened was 
filled with water. It was eleven o'clock before the 
artillery commenced the battle. Our skirmishers were 
met by so heavy a fire, that they were called in ; and 
Gen. Crocker was ordered to charge. At once, the 
whole line swept forward with muskets loaded, bayonets 
fixed. The loud cheers ring out. On they go, through 
the ravine, and up the hill, to the muzzles of the rebel 
guns. The enemy broke, and fled back to their de- 
fences, a mile and a half in the rear. Here an effective 
fire of artillery was opened ; and officers were sent out 
to reconnoitre the works. 

Sherman, who had advanced in another direction 
from McPherson, also found intrenchments to the left 
as far as could be seen, from which a sharp artillery-fire 
was maintained. Grant ordered an examination to the 
extreme right, the flanks of these intrenchments. Those 
sent not returning as soon as he desired, he started 
himself, followed only by his staff", and rode until he 
found that the enemy had evacuated the town. The 
route was open, and he rode on. His son, a boy of 
thirteen, who was with him as they neared the town, 
started his horse on a gallop, and was the first to enter 
the streets. 

But McPherson also learned that the rebels had 
evacuated the works, and marched inside of them on 
one flank, while Sherman marched in on the other, 
meeting midway amid prolonged shouts of victory. 

By three o'clock, the national ensign, raised by the 
Fifty-ninth Indiana, was waving from the dome of the 
capitol. 



\i\\ \kMi^^y-^\v\fi 



«/''// ' "ihh in I U 




Battle at Jackson. 135 

The leading secessionists of the place had left with 
the rebel army, including the State Treasurer with the 
funds, and Gov. Pettus with all the most valuahle State 
papers except the copies of his proclamation. But his- 
tory will preserve this. 

Before four o'clock. Grant Avas issuing orders to his 
corps commanders in the governor's room at the capitol . 
Sherman was ordered to occupy the rifle-pits, and 
destroy the railroads, bridges, and telegraphs in all 
directions, except towards Vicksburg. Factories and 
arsenals were burned. A public house called the 
" Confederate Hotel '' was fired by some of the sol- 
diers before the guard could take possession of the city. 
On investigation, it appeared that some of the Union 
troops had been transported through Jackson, some 
mouths before, as prisoners on cattle-cars, which were 
stopped in front of this hotel. The captives, who had 
suffered long from thirst, asked for a little water, but 
were refused with brutal and insulting taunts by those 
in the hotel. They had been exchanged, and returned 
to the army in time to assist in the capture of Jackson, 
and exhibited in the first moments of victory a vivid 
recollection of the inhumanity of their former treat- 
ment. The officers regretted the unauthorized destruc- 
tion of private property ; but the soldiers probably 
thought that one burning wrong was in this case not 
vmfitly avenged by another. 

That night, Grant occupied the elegant mansion of a 
wealthy rebel, which had been Johnston's headquarters. 
The indications were, that the rebel generals the night 
before had celebrated with a banquet the victory they 
expected to achieve over Grant ; but their victory was 
in anticipation only. 



136 Life of General Grant. 

It was 

" A banquet-hall deserted : 
Its lights were fled, 
Its garlands dead, 
And all but (Grant) departed." 

Johnston retreated several miles, and at once wrote 
to Pemberton, asking, " Can Grant supply himself from 
the Mississippi? Can you not cut him off from it? 
And above all, should he be compelled to fall back for 
want of supplies, beat him." The idea that Grant had 
left his base still distressed both these distinguished 
generals, and gave them unnecessary sohcitude. 

Grant at once issued orders for McPherson to start 
at daylight, and return ; marching to Bolton, twenty 
miles on the road to Vicksburg. Orders were also 
despatched to McClernand and Gen. Frank Blair to 
concentrate at the same point. The object now was 
to return and defeat Pemberton before Johnston and his 
army could join him. A courier was sent back to 
Grand Gulf with despatches for Gen. Halleck, announ- 
cing the victory at Jackson. 

By half-past nine o'clock, the advance of Osterhaus's 
Federal cavalry was driving in the rebel pickets, and 
picking up prisoners in the town of Bolton. The troops 
were pressing on as fast as possible over the muddy 
roads, now badly cut up by the artillery and baggage- 
wagons. But the soldiers saw that quick movements 
and rapid marches enabled them to outnumber the en- 
emy at the point of attack ; and they hurried forward 
with increased confidence in the genius of their leader. 

" I am happy to see you," said the Emperor Alex- 
ander to Gen. Savary the night after the battle of 



Battle at Jackson. 137 

Austerlitz. " This day has been one of glory to the 
Emperor Napoleon. I confess, the rapidity of his ma- 
noeuvres never gave me time to succor the menaced points. 
Everywhere you were double the number of our forces." 
— " Sire," said Savary, " our force was twenty-five thou- 
sand less than yours, and the whole of that was not en- 
o-ao-ed : but the same division combated at different 
points. Therein lies the art of war. The emperor has 
seen forty pitched battles, and is never wanting in that 
particular." 

The rank and file thoroughly understood Gen. Grant's 
desire to spare human life, and enable them to fight 
their battles with their legs rather than with the deadly 
missiles of war. 

While Grant was attacking Jackson, Pemberton was 
in council with his generals, deciding whether he should 
adopt Gen. Johnston's suggestion to move east, and at- 
tack the Federal troops at Chnton. He decided that it 
was not so important as to " cut Grant's line of commu- 
nication with Grand Gulf," a desire which never forsook 
him ; and he accordingly moved south towards Dillon 
to sever Grant from his base. At forty minutes 
past five, p.m.. May l-t, he wrote to Johnston, " I shall 
move, as early to-morrow as practicable, a column of 
seventeen thousand on Dillon's. The object is to cut 
the enemy's commmiication." Such had been the mas- 
terly strategy of Gen. Grant in this campaign, that the 
extraordinary sight was now witnessed of three rebel 
armies marching south, north, and east away fi'om him, 
while he was convergmg between them, from three dif- 
ferent quarters, his united army, flushed with victory. 
Tills is the art of Avar. 



138 Life of General Grant. 

But Pemberton now learned more of Grant's move- 
ments, and perceived, tliat in moving from Edward's 
Station, on the direct road from Vicksburg to Jackson, 
lie had simply moved out of Grant's path, and left the 
way open to Vicksburg. His object now was to return 
as soon as possible ; but this must be done with 
care, or he would find himself passing in front of Grant's 
columns. Grant was marching from east to west for 
Edward's Station ; and Pemberton w^as returning from 
the south to the north, toward the same line. 

About five o'clock on the morning of the 15th, Grant 
learned from a couple of men employed on the Jackson 
and Vicksburg Railroad, who had passed through Pem- 
berton's army, that the enemy were near Edward's 
Station with about twenty-five thousand men. 

In thirty minutes, a courier was on the road to Jack- 
son with the following order to Sherman : " Start one of 
your divisions on the road at once with their ammmii- 
tion-wagons. 

" I have evidence that the entire force of the enemy 
was at Edward's Depot at seven, p.m., last night, and 
was still advancing. The fight may therefore be 
brought on at any moment." 

In one hour after this order was received, Sherman's 
troops were in motion. 

Pemberton, who had been educated at West Point, 
had selected his battle-field with the eye of a trained 
soldier. Champion's Hill, half-way between Vicksburg 
and Jackson, rises sixty or seventy feet above the sur- 
rounding country : its summit, free from woods, afforded 
an admirable position for artillery ; but the sides over 



Battle at Jackson. 139 

which our troops must move were covered with thick 
underbrush, and seamed with ravines. Here Pemberton 
liad placed his army of twenty-five thousand men. 
Loring had the right, Bowen the centre, and Stevens 
the left, of the rebel line. Pemberton was ignorant that 
Grant's entire army was in the vicinity around him. 
Hovey's troops were nearest to Pemberton ; but Grant 
preferred that the action should not be opened until the 
divisions in the rear could be moved up. By eleven 
o'clock, the battle had commenced. McClernand, with 
four divisions, was advancing from Raymond, and had 
been ordered to hurry forward, but had not arrived. 
Hovey's division moved against the hill toward the 
west, supported by two brigades of Logan, which were 
within four hmidred yards of the enemy. 

The fire raged along the whole line of battle. Can- 
non, shot, shell, and rifle-balls swept the field in every 
direction. But Hovey's division pressed throvigh the 
storm of death, and slowly mounted the hill ; the living- 
closing their ranks as the dead dropped beside them. 
They drove the enemy back six hundred yards, and cap- 
tured eleven guns and three hundred prisoners. The 
stars and stripes, and the State flags of Ohio, Indiana, 
Iowa, and Wisconsin, were flying on the crest of the 
hill. But here it was found that the road over the hih 
was so cut as to afford a natural breastwork, which the 
rebels at once used to their great advantage. Pember- 
ton re-enforced the position ; and Hovey's men, in spite 
of all their heroic efforts, were pressed slowly back, 
fighting every inch of the ground, but losing the 
captured guns. Where is McClernand with his fom* 
divisions of fifteen thousand men ? 



140 Life of General Grant. 

Officer after officer had been despatched to hurry 
liim up. Grant, who had watched the battle with his 
son by his side, repeatedly looked toward Raymond, 
and listened for McClernand's guns as Napoleon lis- 
tened for the cannon of Davoust beyond the Tower of 
Neuisedel at Wagram. But Hovey was giving way 
asainst overwhehnino; odds ; and Grant ordered a bri- 
gade of Crocker's division to his support, and they held 
their ground. 

Meanwhile, Logan had pressed the left of the rebel 
line with such terrible effect, that he was working into 
their rear ; which they soon discovered. At this time, 
a battery on the Union right opened upon them with 
fearful slauo-hter ; McPherson moved on the rebel right 
front ; Hovey and Crocker's divisions once more ad- 
vanced with Logan's men ; the enemy gave way ; five 
of the guns Avere recaptured; the battle was won. 

The enemy retreated over the Big Black River, and 
were followed till night. This was the severest battle 
of the campaign. Our loss, in killed, wounded, and 
missing, was 2,457. The rebel loss was between three 
and four thousand in killed and wounded, and nearly 
three thousand taken prisoners ; fifteen or twenty guns, 
eleven of them captured by Logan's command. Among 
the rebel dead was Gen. Tighhnan, who was captured 
the year previous at Fort Henry. The pursuit by 
Grant after the battle was so quick, that Gen. Loring's 
division was separated from Pemberton's main army, 
and was never able to join the garrison of Vicksburg. 

The nature of the ground had required the Union 
troops to ascend the hill in column, and offer their 
solid masses to be ploughed by the enemy's artillery, 



Battle at Jackson. 141 

which was worked with deadly skill. The soldiers 
called it the " Hill of Death:" but it was also the hill 
of victory ; for, in reality, it decided the fate of Vicks- 
burg. 

" They never fail who die 

In a great cause : the block may soak their gore ; 

Theu" heads may sodden in the sun ; their limbs 

Be strung to city gates and castle walls : 

But still their spirits walk abroad." 

That no incident might be wanting to render the day 
remarkable, Grant now received orders fi'om Gen. Hal- 
leck, dated the 11th, to move down the river instead 
of marching into the interior. " If possible," he said, 
" the forces of yourself and Banks should be united 
between Vicksburo- and Port Hudson. The same 
thing has been urged on Banks." It was well that 
Grant had broken up his line of communication with 
his superior, as well as with Grand Gulf, before these 
orders arrived. He was now marching back to the 
Mississippi ; but it was to enter Vicksburg as a con- 
queror. 

Grant and his staff rode on with the pursuing column, 
imtil, late in the night, he found himself too far in ad- 
vance, and rode back to bivouac Avith his soldiers. He 
slept on the piazza of a house which was used as a 
hospital for the rebel wounded. The battle was fought 
on Saturday : the evening brought the close of the 
week and the approach of the sabbath. It was a 
beautiful night. Though yet spring, the air in that 
Southern clime was touched by the fervors of midsum- 
mer ; and, not unnaturally, the hearts of all Avere soft- 
ened bv thoughts of home and loved ones far away. 



142 Life of General Grant. 

The Twenty-fourth Iowa was called the " Methodist 
Regiment," as a large portion of its officers and men 
were of that denomination ; and all at once, as if by 
common impulse, the men began singing " Old Hun- 
dred : " others joined ; and, as the strains of the grand 
old hymn went up on the voices of thousands, it seemed 
both a requiem for comrades slain, and a song of 
thanksgiving for the victory won. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BATTLE AT BIG BLACK RIVER. 

ON the morning of the 17th, McClernand's forces 
found the enemy strongly posted on both sides of 
the Big Black River, at the railroad-bridge. In front 
of the eastern bank was a wide bayou, nearly twenty 
feet across : this was a natural wet ditch, behind which 
w-ere rifle-pits. The west bank was a high bluff, with 
twenty pieces of artillery in position to command the 
east bank and the approaching Federal forces. Trees 
had been felled to form an abatis. Engineering science 
could have hardly constructed a more formidable posi- 
tion than Nature here offered for defence. Here Pem- 
berton took his stand with four thousand men. He said, 
" So strong was the position, that my greatest, almost 
my only, apprehension was a flank movement by Bridge- 
port or Baldwin's Ferry, which would have endangered 
my communications with Vicksburg." But he had 
ao-ainst him the men who had been at Donelson, at 
Corinth, and at Champion's Hill. 

The artillery-firing and skirmishing continued for 
two or three hours ; when Gen. Lawler — who was 
rushing around m his shirt-sleeves, determined to cross 
somewhere — discovered a spot on the left of the 
rebel defences, where, by moving a portion of his 

143 



144: Life of General Grant. 

brigade through a piece of woods, he thought an assault 
might be made. Tlie supporting troops, seeing a part 
of Lawler's men start, animated by their repeated 
victories, dashed after them without waiting for orders, 
and rushed over the bayou in the midst of a mur- 
derous fire, which sw^ept down a hundred and fifty of 
their number. On reaching the end of the rebel para- 
pet, a place was seen wide enough for four men to walk 
abreast : through this the assaulting party rushed with 
fixed bayonets and loud cheers. The astonished rebels, 
accustomed to defeat, as Pemberton said, " did not wait to 
receive them, but broke, and fled precipitately." A panic 
ensued. The rebels fired the western end of the bridge, 
regardless of their troops on the other side. Many 
jumped into the river to escape ; some attempted to 
cross amid the flames ; some ran wildly up and down the 
banks of the river ; others surrendered. An entire 
brigade was taken prisoners. The rebel army, now 
little better than a mob, began its hurried flight to Vicks- 
burg, where their unexpected arrival and utterly demor- 
ahzed* condition filled the city with terror and dismay. 

Our loss was twenty-nine killed and two hundred and 
forty-two Avounded. Seventeen hundred and fifty-one 
prisoners were captured, eighteen cannon, five stand of 
colors, and large quantities of commissary-stores. All 
the roads to Vicksburg were opened. 

Grant immediately ordered bridges to be built ; and 
cotton-gins, boards, timbers from the farm-houses, and 
cotton-bales, Avere brought into requisition for this pur- 
pose. At one point, an ingenious bridge was thrown 
over by simply feUing large trees on both sides so as to 
unite their tops in the middle of the stream. 



Battle at Big Black River. 145 

That night, Sherman, who had the pontoon-train, was 
ordered to cross tlie river at Bridgeport, north of the 
raih-oad ; Grant adding, " We will move in three col- 
umns, if roads can be found to move on ; and either have 
Vicksburg or Haine's Bluff' to-morrow night." 

Early the next morning, McPherson and JMcClernand, 
with their columns, were moving on Vicksburg, now 
fifteen miles distant. At daylight, Sherman's division 
also crossed the river higher up, and struck for Walnut 
Hills, north of Vicksburg, between it and Haine's Bluff, 
and commanding the entrance to the Yazoo Ri\er. 

By half-past nine o'clock, the head of Gen. Sherman's 
columns halted within three miles and a half of Vicks- 
burg for the remainder of the force to come up. 

During this campaign, for thirteen days the men had 
only six days' rations and such supplies as the country 
afforded; grinding their own corn, and marching with- 
out tents or cooking-utensils : yet all were prompt and 
cheerful in the discharge of their duty.* 

In eighteen days. Grant had marched two hundred 
miles, fought five battles, taken six thousand and five 
hundred prisoners, killed and wounded six thousand 
more, taken twenty-seven cannon and sixty-one pieces 
of field-artillery. He had compelled the evacuation of 
Grand Gulf, captured the c&])ital of the State of Mis- 
sissippi, and destroyed its network of railroads for more 
than thirty miles in all directions. 

His losses were six hundred and ninety-eight killed, 
three thousand four hundred and seven wounded, and 
two hundred and thirty missing. 

He had subsisted his ai'my on the enemy's territoiy. 

10 

* McCiemaud's Keport. 



146 Life of Geneeal Grant. 

The whole campaign was a new thing in Avar, 
and was the model of " the great march to the sea." 
This was the first instance in history of an army march- 
ino- into an enemy's country, and depending on their 
haversacks for daily supplies. Napoleon had levied 
contributions on cities and countries ; but they were 
often in money, always ordered in advance, and, in 
many instances, months before his army left Paris. 

And here a strange scene took place. The fi^iendship 
of Grant and Sherman will live in history as one of 
the many remarkable incidents of the war. It has for 
centuries been observed that great men seldom choose 
friends so much for mental as for social qualities. Heroes 
rarely seek companions in their equals. Eagles fly 
alone. Achilles does not seek friendship with Ajax, 
but the gentle Patroclus ; and JEneas soothes himself 
wath the affection of Acliates, and not the companion- 
ship of Diomed. It was not Ney, " the bravest of the 
brave," but the unknown Col. Muiron, whom Napoleon 
loved, and whose name he wished to wear in his exile 
at St. Helena. Grant and Sherman rode out alor*e on 
the summit of one of the highest of the Walnut Hills, 
and gazed in silence on the panorama at their feet, — the 
river ; the city ; the great prizes of the campaign ; the 
Yazoo, along wdiose banks Sherman had led his column 
by torchlight ; Haine's Bluff, which had tossed back the 
Federal troops as the rocky shore flings back the ocean 
spray ; and the long line of batteries unassailable by the 
navy. Neither spoke. The letter of Sherman to Grant, 
remonstrating against the campaign so earnestly, h:i<l 
never been mentioned. Sherman now turned suddenly 
to Grant, and said, "Until this moment, I never thought 



Battle at Big Black River. 147 

your expedition a success. I never could see the end 
clearly until now. But this is a campaign. This is a 
success if we never take the town." 

Haine's Bluff was abandoned by the enemy, and its 
garrison joined that of Vicksburg. Communication was 
opened with the river at the foot of Walnut Hills, and 
supplies of all kinds were forwarded to the troops. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE SIEGE OF A'ICKSBURG. 



BY the 19th of May, Vicksburg, "the city of a 
hundred hills," was closely invested ; and its fall 
was only a question of time. The city was about four 
or five miles long, and nearly two miles wide. The 
defences consisted of detached redoubts connected by 
rifle-pits. The Avorks on the land-side were eight miles 
long, with about four miles of heavy batteries on 
the water-front. It was intersected by ravines and 
ridges covered by an imj^enetrable growth of cane and 
vines ; and, in front, heavy trees had been felled. It 
was a vast intrenched camp, with two hundred cannon 
mounted in commanding positions, and bristling with 
forty thousand bayonets in the hands of brave and 
determined men. 

Johnston had sent word to Pemberton, " If Haine's 
Bluff is untenable, Vicksburg is of no value," and urging 
him to save his army. Pemberton was holding a council 
of war to determine what he should do, when the guns 
of the Union army announced that Grant had already 
decided this question, and that escape was impossible. 

His expectation now was, that the Confederate Gov- 
ernment would relieve him before the place could be 
taken. 

148 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 149 

Johnston was gathering an army to attack Grant in 
the rear. Grant had no force equal to besieging 
Pemberton, preventing a sortie of his army, and at the 
same time fighting a battle with thirty thousand under 
Johnston. The army was impatient for an assault 
before settling down to the dull, tedious labor of engi- 
neerino- ; and at this time it was not supposed that 
Pemberton had over twelve or fifteen thousand men. 
His full force was not known until their surrender. 

It was determined to make an assault at two o'clock 
on the 19th ; which was done with great bravery. Tlie 
Thirteenth United-States Infantry planted their colors 
on the outer works. The Eighty-tliird Indiana and 
the Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois reached a 
similar position at the same time. Gen. Blair secured 
and held an advanced position until ordered to fall back. 
But the strength of the works was too great to be 
carried in that manner before night settled down over 
the scene ; and the troops fell back. 

The bombardment, especially from the mortar-boats, 
vi^as so severe, that the people began digging caves in 
the sides of the hills ; and Pemberton, unable to feed 
his horses and mules, drove them outside his lines. 

On the 22d, it was determined to make one more 
attempt to carry Vicksburg by storm. Gen. Grant 
knew that Johnston was concentrating a large army at 
Canton ; and he was desirous of capturing Vicksburg, so 
that he could attack this army, and drive the rebels out 
of the State, srivino- to the government the railroads and 
military highways west of the Tombigbee, before the heat 
of summer came on. He was anxious also to save the 
necessity of sending to him any re-entbrcements wliich 



150 Life of General Grant. 

were needed so much elsewhere. The troops also were 
fully persuaded that the works, which were only four 
hundred yards distant, could be carried by storm, and 
would have been disheartened to enter the trenches for 
a prolonged siege until this was settled. 

A commander is unwise who wholly disregards the 
convictions of an army of thirty thousand intelligent 
men in such a case, even if they do not wholly agree 
with his mature judgment. 

Orders were given for a general assault at ten o'clock 
on the 22d. " Promptly at the hour designated, all 
will start at quick time, with bayonet fixed, and march 
immediately upon the enemy, without firing a gun until 
the outer works are carried." 

Watches of the corps commanders were compared, 
and set by that of the general commanding. At five 
minutes before ten, the bugles sounded to prepare for a 
charge ; and at ten precisely the three army corps of 
McClernand, McPherson, and Sherman, moved on the 
works. Gen. Grant was in a commanding position 
near Sherman's corps, which gave him the best view 
of the advancing columns. 

A forlorn hope of a hundred and fifty men, with 
poles and boards, was to bridge the ditch in the face 
of the concentrated fire of five batteries. Not a man 
or rifle of the rebels was seen until the storming-[)ar- 
ties began to ascend the ridge, Avhen along the whole 
line they opened a most murderous fire, against which 
it was simply selt-murder to persist. 

Regiment after regiment pushed on, and at different 
points placed their colors on the outer slopes of the ene- 
my's works. At one point, a handful of men led by Ser- 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 151 

geant Griffith, a lad not twenty years old, of the Twenty- 
second Iowa, entered one bastion ; but all were captured 
except the brave Griffith, who secured thirteen rebels 
as prisoners. While this was going on, the fleet and 
mortar-boats, with 100-pound Parrotts mounted on 
rafts, were filling the air with their deadly missiles, 
and raining shot, shell, fire, and death upon the city 
from the river. The sight was awful and sublime. The 
constant booming of so many hundred heavy cannon, 
the shells screeching and exploding, and the tens of 
thousands of Minie-balls whizzing through the air in 
every direction, drove to desperation the enraged com- 
batants. 

There were deeds of unsurpassed bravery throughout 
the day. White's Chicago Mercantile Battery actually 
put their ammunition in their haversacks, and dragged 
their heavy guns by hand, while under constant fire, 
down one slope and up another, and fired into one of 
the embrasures. 

But all in vain. The inner works commanded the 
outer. The natural and artificial strength of the place 
was too great, and the army defending it too large, for 
an army of only equal numbers to carry it by assault. 

The long wars of Napoleon showed no such daring 
assault. It was fifty-one thousand Englishmen under 
Wellington at Badajos that assavilted five thousand 
French, and it was thirty-five thousand English at 
Ciudad Rodrigo that assaulted seventeen hundred 
French. 

It was now evident that Vicksburg could only be 
taken by regular siege ; and this was commenced with- 
out a day's delay. Hurlbut and Prentiss were ordered 



152 Life op General Grant. 

to send forward " every available man that could possi- 
bly be spared." " The siege of Vicksburg is going to 
occupy time, contrary to my expectations when I arrived 
near it. . . . Contract every thing on the line of the 
route from Memphis to Corinth, and keep your cavalry 
Avell out south of there : by this means, you ought to be 
able to send here quite a large force." 

And now earthworks and covered ways were erect- 
ed ; and the soldiers took practical lessons in engi- 
neering, and became learned in the technicalities 
of the science. Trenches, revets, salients, gabions, 
banquettes, boyau, mining, and counter-mining were 
the order ot the day. " Vicksburg must be taken." 
The labor in the trenches was greatly aided by large 
numbers of negroes. The length of all the trenches 
was twelve miles. Eighty-nine batierics Avere con- 
structed ; and by the 3d of June two hundred and 
twenty guns were in position. The very small number 
of professional engineers with the army required G&n. 
Grant to give personal supervision to the details of the 
siege in diiferent sections of the work almost from hour 
to hour. Occasionally the rebels would open mines, and 
sometimes make a sortie^ but with little effect. Their 
desire seemed to be to save their men, and wait for re- 
lief from Johnston. At one point, the pickets of the 
besieffed and besiegers agreed not to fire on each other 
at night, when the principal labor was done, and allotted 
the groimd between them so that working-parties were 
not ten vards apart. The amount of labor performed 
night and day was prodigious. Those not in the 
trenches were j)icking off the rebels by sharpshooting 
whenever a head was seen ; or working the artillery, 



The Siege of Yicksburg. 153 

Avliicli never seemed to be silent. On the 4th of June, 
Johnston had collected, by his own report, an army of 
about twenty-seven thousand men, which he was en- 
deavoring to increase to forty thousand. Grant really 
had two armies on his hands. Expeditions were sent 
east to the Big Black River to destroy bridges and 
forage, and to bring in cattle and every thing which 
could be of use to Johnston's army. 

Gen. Blair was sent with twelve thousand men to 
drive off" the enemy between the Yazoo and the Big 
Black River, where Johnston was gathering large sup- 
plies. Grant was attacking Pemberton on the west, and 
at the same time carefully preparing to defend himself 
from Johnston on the east. While besieging, he was 
threatened with a siege. Pemberton now conceived 
the idea of tearing down the houses of Vicksburg to 
Inxild two thousand boats with which his army might 
escape over the river ; and Vicksburg was turned into a 
sort of navy -yard " ad intei'im.'' But the boats, if boats 
thev could be called, never touched the river. After 
the capture of the city, many of them were examined 
by our soldiers as curious specimens of marine archi- 
tecture. 

On the 22d, it was expected that Johnston would 
advance. Sherman was ordered to look after him : and 
Grant said, " They seem to put a great deal of foith in 
the Lord and Joe Johnston ; but i/ou must whip John- 
ston at least fifteen miles from here." To Herron and 
A. J. Smith he wrote, "Should Johnston come, we 
want to whip him, if the siege has to be raised to do it." 
To Parke he wrote, " We want to whip Johnston at least 
fifteen miles off if possible." To McClernand, " Hold 



154 Life op General Grant. 

and fight the enemy ivherever he preseMs himself^ 
from the extreme right to the extreme left. The 
movements of an enemy necessarily determine coun- 
ter-movements." To another, " Certainly^ use the 
negroes, and every thing ivithin your command, to the 
best advantage. Travel with as little baggage as pos- 
sible, and use your teams as an ordnance and supply 
train." To Ord, " Keep Smith's division sleeping 
under arms to-night. Notify Lauman to be in readi- 
ness kll night." To Washbume, " Make the detail 
with reference to the competency of the colonel who 
will command the expedition. He must be a hve and 
active man." 

To maintain himself thus between two armies, re- 
quired, as may well be imagined, the most constant and 
untirino- viiiilance ; and Johnston, after a full study of 
the situation, wrote to the Secretary of War at Rich- 
mond, " Grant's position, naturally very strong, is in- 
trenched, and protected by powerful artillery, and the 
roads obstructed. . . . The Big Black covers him from 
attack, and would cut off our retreat if defeated." 

Pemberton was writing, " Enemy bombards day and 
nio-ht from seven mortars. He also keeps up constant 
fire on our Hue with artillery and musketry." Again 
he says, " On the Graveyard Road [significant name to 
the rebel army], the enemy's works are within twenty- 
five feet of our redan. My men have been thirty-four 
days and nights in the trenches without relief, and the 
enemy within conversation-distance." 

On the 25th, a mine wlilch had been prepared was 
exploded. The mine contained two thousand two hun- 
dred pounds of powder. At three o'clock, word was 



The Siege op Vicksburg. 155 

brought that all was ready. Two hundred men from 
the Forty-fifth Illinois and the Twenty-third Indiana 
were to lead the forlorn hope. Many were in their 
shirt-sleeves, and carrying nothing but their guns and 
cartridge-boxes, prepared for close and hard fighting. 
These men were in view of thousands whom the thrill- 
in*T excitement of the moment hushed into silence. A 
few moments, and the fuses exploded, and the earth 
was lifted to the skies as with the power of an earth- 
quake. The vast mass of powder blazed up ; the chasm 
yawned, and showed a sea of surging flame, as if the 
globe itself had opened to spout out its great central 
fires. Sods, earth, rocks, cannon, broken gun-carriages, 
mangled remains of men, all mingled in confusion, were 
hurled a hundred feet into the air. Strange to say, 
some of the rebels were carried over and landed alive 
withm the Union lines. Simultaneously, twelve miles 
of artillery and rifles opened with their dread roar. The 
cavity made in the earth was large enough to hold two 
thousand men, into which the combatants rushed with 
maddened fury. The soldiers called it " the death- 
hole." There, with rifles, bayonets, clubbed muskets, 
hand-grenades, revolvers, the struggling mass fought 
until after nightfall. The Union soldiers were unable 
to enter the inner fines, but held their ground ; and the 
next day extended rifle-pits across the opening. 

Thus the siege progressed. Pemberton especially, 
after Grant's successes in the opening of the campaign, 
•Y/as accused of '" selling Yicksburg," and made the 
most determined efforts to hold the city. He had early 
made a speech to the citizens and soldiers, in which he 
said, " You have heard that I am incompetent, and a* 



156 Life of General Grant. 

traitor ; and that it Avas my intention to sell Vicksburg. 
Follow me, and you will see the cost at which I will 
sell Vicksburg. When the last pound of beef, bacon, 
and flour, the last grain of corn, the last cow and hog, 
and horse and dog, shall have been consumed, and the 
last man shall have perished in the trenches, — then, 
and only then, will I sell Vicksburgo" 

Forty-seven days and nights the work went on. 
Seven thousand mortar-shells, and four thousand five 
hundred shells from the gunboats, had been tlirown into 
the devoted city. The houses burned, and torn to 
pieces, the citizens had been obliged to find shelter in 
holes dug in the earth in the sides of the hills ; and here 
parents died, and children were born. Flour was a 
thousand dollars a barrel (rebel money) ; meal, a hun- 
dred and forty dollars a bushel ; mule-meat, one dollar a 
pound. Mule-soup was a luxury. The rich had eaten 
their last crust ; and now rich and poor were meeting 
starvation together. The soldiers were living on bran- 
bread, and half-rations at that. The heats of summer 
were now filling the exhausted and worn-out fi-ames of 
the soldiers with the pestilence of the swamps. Nature 
was undermining the rebel camp more surely than the 
art of man. 

A rebel woman living in the outskirts, who had 
remained in her battered tenement, asked Gen. Grant 
one day, when he stojiped for some water, if he ever 
expected to take Vicksburg. He said, *■' Yes." 
" But when ? " said the woman. 

" I don't know ivhen ; but I shall take it if I stay 
here thirty years." His determination had greater 
longevity than she had imagined. 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 157 

To illustrate the character of this civil war : The pick- 
ets of the two armies at one point were accustomed at 
last to meet at night at a well between the lines, where 
thej would discuss the cause of the war, the rights of 
the South and slavery ; and, when debate grew excited, 
they would part, as they said, " to avoid getting into a 
fight on the subject." It was, in truth, a war of ideas, 
— an "irrepressible conflict" between liberty and 
slavery. 

]\[ean while, parlor -soldiers, solemn croakers, who 
opened their papers at quiet firesides, and read daily, 
" Siege of Vicksburg progressing," shook their wise 
heads, and said, " They'll never take that place : it's a 
perfect Gibraltar." 

At this time, Grant was not only confident of success, 
but mentally reaching forward to other operations. To 
Gen. Banks he writes, " Should it be my fortune, 
general, to get into Vicksburg while you are still in- 
vesting Port Hudson, I will commence immediately 
shipping troops to you, and will send such number as 
you may indicate as being necessary." To Halleck, 
who had aided him with energy as far as possible since 
his campaign became pronounced, he wrote, " There is 
no doubt of the fall of this place ultimately." Later 
he says, " The enemy are now undoubtedly in our 
grasp. The fall of Vicksburg, and the capture of most 
of the garrison, can only be a question of time." 

On the 30th of June he writes, " The troops of this 
command are in excellent health and spirits. There is 
not the slightest indication of despondency either 
among officers or men." 

The walls of fire were steadily closing around Vicks- 



158 Life of General Grant. 

burg, clay bj day, hour by hour. On the 1st of July, 
Grant was preparing another assault ; when, on the 
morning of the 3d, a white flag was seen flying from 
the rebel lines ; and Gen. Bowen, and Col. Montgomery 
of Gen. Pemberton's staff, left for the Union camp. 
The rebel soldiers imagined a surrender was to be made, 
and were much excited. Gen. Eowen was the bearer 
of a letter to Gen. Grant. After being blindfolded, 
these ofScers were conducted to Gen. Smith's quarters, 
where the following letter fi'om Gen. Pemberton was 
delivered : — 

" I have the lionor to propose to you an armistice of hours, 

with a view to arranging terms for the capitulation of Vicksburg. 
To tliis end, if agreeable to you, I will appoint three commis- 
sioners to meet a like number to be named by yourself at such 
place and hour as you may find convenient. I malie this proposi- 
tion to save the further effusion of blood, which must otherwise be 
shed to a frightful extent ; feeling myself fully able to maintain my 
position for a yet indefinite period. This communication will be 
handed you, under a Hag of truce, by Major-Gen. J. S. Bowen. 

To which Gen. Grant returned the following reply: — 

" Your note of this date is just received, proposing an armis- 
tice for several hours for the purpose of arranging terms of capitu- 
lation through commissioners to be appointed, &c. The effusion 
of blood you propose stopping by this course can be ended at 
any time you may choose hy an unconditional surrender of the 
city and garrison. Men who have shown so much endiu-ance and 
courage as those now in Vicksburg will always challenge the 
respect due them as prisoners of war. I do not favor the proposi- 
tion of appointing commissioners to arrange terms of capitulation, 
because I have no other terms than'those Indicated above." 

Gen. Bowen desired a personal interview with Gen. 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 159 

Grant ; which the latter decKned. Upon the suggestion 
of the former, an interview between the two com- 
manders was arranged for three o'clock that day. 

At three o'clock, a signal-gun was fired ; and Gen. 
Pemberton, with Gen. Bowen and Col. Montgomery, 
left the rebel works. Gen. Grant rode through -the 
Union trenches to an outlet leading to a spot of green 
eartli which had not been trod by either army, about 
two hundred feet from the rebel lines. With him were 
Generals McPherson, Logan, Ord, and Smith, and one 
or two of Grant's staff. The two commanders, having 
never met, were introduced, and exchanged the saluta- 
tion of gentlemen. 

The interview was witnessed by thousands of both 
armies, who crowded the parapets unarmed, and gazed 
with deep and silent interest on the scene. The day 
was sultry, and the summer air as still as if it had 
never for centuries resounded to the voice of war. 

After a moment's silence. Gen. Pemberton said, — 

" Gen. Grant, I meet you in order to arrange terms 
for the capitulation of the city of Vicksburg and its 
garrison. What terms do you demand ? " 

" Unconditional surrender," said Grant. 

" If this is all," said Pemberton with assumed im- 
patience and hauteur, " the conference may terminate, 
and hostilities be resumed immediately." 

" Very well," said Gen. Grant, and turned to walk 
away. 

The acquaintance of the men had not been long 
enough to show to Pemberton that Grant was a man 
who wasted no words, but who said what he meant, 
and meant what he said. 



100 Life of General Grant. 

Gen. Bowen now ventured to suggest that two of 
the subordinates should confer, and present some basis 
of neo-otiation for their chiefs. Grant said he had no 
objections, but should be bound by no such action, and 
should be governed by his own sense of duty. 

Bowen and Smith conversed a few moments ; while 
Grant and Pemberton stepped aside, and engaged hi 
conversation under a large oak-tree. Very soon. Gen. 
Bowen proposed that the rebels should march out from 
Vicksburg with honors of war ; taking their muskets 
and field-gvms, but leaving their heavy artillery. Grant 
smiled at this proposal, and said it was inadmissible. 
It was finally agreed that he should send his terms in 
writino; before ten o'clock that nio;ht. Meanwhile 
hostilities were not to be resumed until negotiations 
were at an end. 

He returned to his tent, and for the first time sum- 
moned his corps commanders and generals to a council 
of war as to the terms which should be offered ; but 
none of them, with a single exception, proposed terms 
which he was willing to accept. 

He finally sent the following letter to Gen. Pember- 
ton : — 

" In conformity with agreement of tliis afternoon, I will submit 
the following proposition for the sra-rerider of the city of Vicks- 
burg, public stores, &c. On your accepting the terms proposed, I 
will march in one division as a guard, to take possession at eight 
o'clock, A.M., To-morrow. As soon as rolls can be made out, and 
paroles signed by officers and men, you will be allowed to march 
out of our lines, — the officers with their side-arms and clothing ; 
and the field, staff, and cavalry officers, one horse each. The 
rank and file will be allowed all their clothing, but no other prop- 
erty. If these conditions are accepted, any amount of rations you 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 161 

may deem necessary can be taken from the stores you now have, 
and also all the necessary cooking utensils for pre2)aring them. 
Thirty wagons also, counting two-horse or mule teams as one, will 
be allowed to transport such articles as cannot be carried along. 
The same conditions will be allowed to all sick and wounded ofE- 
cers and soldiers, as fast as they become able to travel. The pa- 
roles for these latter must be signed, however, while officers are 
present authorized to sign the roll of prisoners." 

Pemberton submitted these terms to a council of his 
officers, all of whom, with one exception, advised their 
acceptance ; and late at night he sent the following to 
Gen Grant : — 

" I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your commu- 
nication of this date, proposing terms of capitulation for this gar- 
rison and post. In the main, your terms are accepted ; but, in 
justice both to the honor and spirit of my troops manifested in 
the defence of Vicksburg, I have to submit the following amend- 
ments, which, if acceded to by you, will perfect the agreement 
between us. 

" At ten o'clock, A.M., to-morrow, I propose to evacuate the 
works in and around Vicksburg, and to surrender the city and 
garrison under my command, by marching out with my colors and 
arms, stacking them in front of my present lines ; after which you 
will take possession. Officers to retain their side-arms and per- 
sonal property, and the rights and property of citizens to be 
respected." 

This was not received until midnight ; but Grant 
replied immediately as follows : — 

" I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your commu- 
nication of the 3d of July. The amendment proposed by you 
cannot be acceded to in full. It wiU be necessary to furnish every 
officer and man with a parole signed by himself, which, with the 
11 



162 Life op General Grant. 

completion of the roll of prisoners, will necessarily take some 
time. 

" Again : I can make no stipulations with regard to the treat- 
ment of citizens and their private projierty. Wliile I do not 
propose to cause them any undue annoyance or loss, I cannot con- 
sent to leave myself under any restraint by stipulations. The 
property which officers will be allowed to take with them will be 
as stated in my proposition of last evening ; that is, officers will 
be allowed their private baggage and side-arms, and mounted 
officers one horse each. 

" If you mean, by your proposition, for each brigade to march 
to the front of the lines now occupied by it, and stack arms at ten 
o'clock, A.M., and then return to the inside, and there remain as 
prisoners until properly paroled, I will make no objection to it. 
Should no notification be received of your acceptance of my terms 
by nine o'clock, a.m., I shall regard them as having been rejected, 
and shall act accordingly. Should these terms be accepted, white 
flags should be disjDlayed along your lines to prevent such of my 
troops as may not have been notified from firing upon your 
men." 

Gen. Pemberton returned an immediate answer as 
follows : — 

" I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your commu- 
nication of this day, and in reply to say that the terms proposed 
by you are accepted." 

On receipt of Pemberton's first letter, while the 
correspondence was still progressing, Gen. Grant sent 
the following orders to Sherman : " There is little 
doubt but that the enemy will surrender to-night or in 
the morning. Make your calculations to attack John- 
ston, and destroy the road north of Jackson." 

To Generals Steele and Ord, similar orders were is- 
sued. " I want," says Grant, " Johnston broken up as 



The Siege of Vicksburg. 163 

effectually as possible. You can make your own 
arrangements, and have all the troops of my command 
except one corps." 

Nothing can show more clearly the unremitting 
energy of Gen. Grant's character than the issuing of 
these orders that night. 

At ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of July, 
regiment after regiment of the rebel array marched out 
in front of their breastworks, and, in view of the Union 
soldiers, laid down their arms and colors. It was not 
until afternoon that the army, preceded by Logan's 
division, marched into the city. The Forty-fifth Illinois 
raised the national ensign on the court-house ; and, as it 
spread itself to the breeze, thousands of the troops greet- 
ed it with the well-known song, beginning, — 

" Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again, 
Shouting the battle-cry of freedom ! " 

Gen. Grant rode to Gen. Pemberton's headquarters, 
where it might be supposed he was entitled, under the 
circumstances, to the ordinary civilities of private life. 
He alighted at the porch ; but there was no one to re- 
ceive him. He made his w^ay into the house, where he 
found Pemberton and his staff: no one gave him a seat. 
The day was exceedingly hot and dusty, and Gen. Grant 
asked for a glass of water. He was cu\'tly told he could 
find it inside. He wandered about the premises, until 
the negi'o, ever present where a service could be done to 
a Union soldier, furnished the needed refreshment. Pem- 
berton asked Gen. Grant to supply his famished soldiers 
with rations ; which Grant at once did. Gen. Pemberton 
could be indebted to Gen. Grant's grace and favor for the 



164 Life of General Grant. 

sword he wore, could ask from his captor the honors of 
war for himself and his army, receive from his hands 
the bread they were to eat ; but he could not return to 
him the ordinary civihties of society. By such means 
do little men show their littleness. 

Admiral Porter with his glass had seen the national 
flag raised ; and before night seventy steamers were 
lying at the levees, and more were coming. All was 
activity : the long embargo was removed. From a be- 
sieged garrison, Vicksburg had in appearance changed, 
in a few hours, to a thriving inland city. 

The surrender of the city w^as a surprise to many, 
especially to the talking rebels. Some Union soldiers 
strolled into the office of " The Citizen," the vahant 
rebel newspaper. It had been printed on house-paper. 
The forms of the paper for the second day of July were 
still standing ; and these words appeared : " The great 
Ulysses — the Yankee generalissimo, surnamed Grant 
— has expressed his intention of dining in Vicksburg on 
Saturday next, and celebrating the 4th of July by a 
grand dinner. Ulysses must get into the city before he 
dines in it. The way to cook a rabbit is ' first to catch 
the rabbit,' " &c. Tbis inflated bluster was tpiite in 
keeping with the management of the Rebellion. The 
people of Vicksburg were starving, living in caves, ex- 
alting mule-soup and fricasseed kittens into luxuries ; 
yet their resources for boasting were inexhaustible, and 
they printed their silly defiance on house-paper until the 
hour of surrender. 

Some of our soldiers, whose fingers were as skilful 
with tyi)es as with rifles, added these words : " Two 
days bring about great changes. The banner of the 



The Siege of Yicksburg. 165 

Union floats over Vicksburo;. Gen. Grant has cauo-ht 
the rabbit : he has dined in Vicksburn;." * 

Gen. Grant saw Gen. McPherson in possession of 
elegant lieadquarters in the city, but at night went back 
to his tent in the canebrakes. 

The tidings of the surrender were telegi'aphed to the 
principal towns and cities of the North in the afternoon, 
and, with the news of the battle at Gettysburg, illu- 
mined the closing hours of the great national holiday. 

The results of the whole campaign were the defeat 
of the enemy in five battles ; the occupation of Jackson, 
the capital of the State ; a loss to the enemy of fifty-six 
thousand prisoners, and at least ten thousand killed and 
wounded. Arms and munitions of war for sixty thou- 
sand men, railroad-cars, locomotives, steamboats, were 
destroyed in large numbers. Thirty-one thousand and 
six hundred of the above prisoners Avere surrendered 
with Vicksburg, a hundred and seventy-two cannon, 
and thirty-five thousand rifles and muskets. 

Grant had lost 943 killed, 7,095 wounded, 537 miss- 
ing. Half the wounded in a few weeks recovered, and 
were on duty. He announced this great victory to the 
government m the following terms : " The enemy 
surrendered this morning. The only terms allowed is 
their parole as prisoners of war. This I regard as a 
great advantage to us at this moment. It saves, proba- 
bly, several days in the capture, and leaves troops and 

* When Moscow was occupied by the French, a monument was erected 
iu Coblentz with this inscription: " lu honor of the memorable carapuign 
against the Russians in 1812."' Two years after, Col. Mardeuke, the Rus- 
sian commander at Coblentz, left the monument untouched, but caused the 
following words to be cut under the inscription: "Seen and approved by 
the Russian commander of Coblentz, 1*^14." 



166 Life of General Grant. 

transports ready for immediate service. Sherman, Avitli 
a large force, moves immediately upon Johnston to 
drive him from the State." 

Gen. Grant had made the largest captm'e ever made 
in war. The nearest approach to it was by Napoleon 
at Ulm ; but there only thirty thousand prisoners and 
sixty gmis were taken, and by a much larger army than 
Grant's. 

This was the heaviest blow the Rebellion had ever 
received, and was one from which it never recovered. 
The thirty-two thousand prisoners, who had been well 
treated by Gen. Grant after taking possession of Vicks- 
burg, and had mingled freely with our soldiers, scattered 
through the South to spread the news of the great dis- 
aster and predict the fature of the " lost cause." An 
entire army had been taken out of the Rebellion. The 
great river was opened : the Confederacy was rent in 
twain. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



PORT HUDSON TAKEN. 



aENERALS Sherman and McPherson were rec- 
ommended for appointment as brigadier-generals 
in the regular army in these noble words : — 

" The fii'st reason for tliis is their great fitness for any command 
that it may ever become necessary to intrust to them. Second, 
their great purity of character, and disinterestedness in every thing 
except the faithful performance of theh' duty, and the success of 
every one engaged in the great battle for the preservation of the 
Union. Third, they have honorably won this distinction upon 
many -well-fought battle-fields. The promotion of such men as 
Sherman and McPherson always adds strength to our army." 

President Lincoln addressed the following letter to 
Gen. Grant, so characteristic for its candor and hon- 
esty. It Avas dated July 13, 1863, at the Executive 
Mansion. 

Dear General, — I do not remember that you and I ever met 
personally. I vrrite now as a gratefid acknowledgment for the 
almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to 
say further, when you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I 
thought you should do what you finally did, — march the troops 
across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go 
below ; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that 
you knew better than I, tliat the Yazoo-pass expedition and the 

167 



168 Life of General Grant. 

like could succeed. ^Yhcn you got better, and took Port Gibson, 
Great Gulf, and the vicinity, I thought }-ou should go down the 
river, and join Gen. Banks; and when you turned northward, east 
of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wi?h to make 
a personal acknowledgment that you was right, and I was wrong. 

Yours very truly, 

A. LixcoLX. 

It was about this time that an ardent temperance 
man, in speaking of Gen. Grant's successes to Presi- 
dent Lincoln, repeated some of the stories in regard to 
Gen. Grant's habits ; adding, — 

"It's a pity lie is such a drunkard." 

Mr. Lincohi, Avho had never countenanced these 
attacks, asked, — 

" Do you know what kind of hquor he drinks ? " 

" No, sir," was the answer ; " and I don't know that 
that is essentiah" 

" The reason I asked," said Mr. Lincohi with a 
twinkle in his eye, but without moving a muscle of his 
face, " was, that, if I knew, I should like to send some 
of the same liquor to some of our other generals." * 

President Lincoln was a rigid temperance man him- 
self. He refused to furnish or allow others to offer wine 
at his house to the committee who went to Springfield 
to inform him of his nomination for President. His 
visitor saw that Mr. Lincoln wished to show the 
absurdity of thinking that a man could possibly do 
what Grant had accomplished in that campaign while 
debauched and enfeebled by intemperance. 

* Some one was lamenting to old George II. that the war-ofHce had 
placed confidence in such a red-haired, daring, hot-brained young officer as 
Gen. Wolfe, and scut him to Quebec; adding, " Wolfe is mad, your Majes- 
ty." — " Is lie?" said llie king. "I wish he would blU some of my other 
generals." 



Poet Hudson Taken. 169 

Port Hudson, which had been invested for some 
weeks by Gen. Banks and his army, surrendered on 
the 9th of July ; and the Mississippi, as Mr. Lincohi 
expressed it, " rolled unvexed to the sea." 

On the evening of the 4th, Ord and Steele had 
moved out of camp ; and on the 6th Sherman was able 
to cross the Big Black River with not less than fifty 
thousand men. " I want you," said Grant, " to drive 
Johnston from the Mississippi Central Railroad, destroy 
the bridges as far north as Grenada with your cavalry, 
and do the enemy all the harm possible." 

They were to march through places not easily for- 
gotten. " They came," said Grant, "by Black-river 
Bridge, Edward's Station, and Champion's Hill. That 
is the route they now go." To Sherman he says again, 
" I have no suggestion or orders to give. I want you 
to drive Johnston out in your own way, and inflict on 
the enemy all the punishment you can. I will support 
you to the last man that can be spared." 

Johnston fell back toward Jackson, where, on the 
9th, Sherman found him. The works here had been 
strengthened, and extended toward Pearl River, both 
above and below the city. Johnston was anxious that 
Sherman should attack him, and telegraphed to Jeffer- 
son Davis, " If the enemy will not attack, we must, or 
at the last moment withdraw." For similar reasons, 
Sherman would not attack. He sent out cavalry for 
sixty or seventy miles in every direction, destroying 
every thing that could aid the rebel army, and bringing 
the war home to the people who were sustaining it.* 

* It was during one of these raids that our cavalry overhauled the 
library and correspondeuce of Jeflerson Davis, finding a gold-lieaded ftane 



170 Life of General Grant. 

On the 12th, Sherman's heavy guns commanded eveiy 
part of the city, and more were being placed in position. 
Johnston saw the inevitable result ; and on the night of 
the 5th he quietly moved his army out across Pearl 
River, and Jackson was once more in the hands of our 
forces. 

Sherman decided that enough would not be gained 
by pursuit to warrant him in following Johnston a 
hundred miles across the country at that season of the 
year, in that chmate ; and he completed the work of 
destruction around Jackson. He rendered it impracti- 
cable for Johnston to return and annoy Grant ; issued 
flour and pork to the starving families at Jackson and 
Clinton, who had been stripped by the demands of two 
armies ; and returned to Vicksburg. 

On the 11th of July, Gen. Grant wrote to the War 
Department, in regard to colored troops, as follows : " I 
am anxious to get as many of these negro regiments 
as possible, and to have them full, and completely 
equipped. ... I am particularly desirous of organiz- 
ing a regiment of heavy artillerists from the negroes 
to garrison this place, and shall do so as soon as pos- 
sible." 

On the 24th of July, " The negro troops are easier 
to preserve discipline among than our white troops, 

sent to him by Ex-President Franklin Pierce, and various letters from 
Northern men, encouraging the Rebellion; among them the letter of Pierce 
in which he says, " And if, thi-ough the madness of Northern abolitionists, 
that dire calamity must come, the fighting will not be along JIason and 
Dixon's line merely. It will be within our own borders, in our own streets, 
between the two classes of citizens to whom I have referred. Those who 
defy law, and scout constitutional obligations, will, if we ever reach the 
arbitrament of arms, find occupation enough at home." 



Port Hudson Taken. 171 

and I doubt not will prove equally good for garrison- 
dutj. All that have been tried have fought bravelj." 

After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, 
orders were sent from Richmond to the rebel armies 
to " give no quarter " to black troops and their officers. 
It was held by the South that the black soldiers were 
runaway slaves, and the officers found with them were 
thieves ; and neither were entitled to the treatment of 
prisoners of war. In Grant's department and at 
Milliken's Bend occurred one of the first instances in 
which the rebels sought to carry out this theory. 
Grant, as we have seen, had never been technically 
an " abolitionist ; " but he recognized the events which 
the war revealed. He had long- determined that war 
should support war. He had organized camps for 
fugitives, protected them from abuse, received and 
acted on the information which they often brought him, 
and supported the policy of Mr. Lincoln on the ques- 
tion of " contrabands " as fast as it was pronounced. 
He did not anticipate the President and Congress in 
making a policy for them, but obeyed orders from time 
to time as they were issued. 

But his private opinions were none the less clear, 
statesman-like, and decided. As early as Aug. 30, 
1862, and before the Emancipation Proclamation was 
issued, he wrote to the Hon. E. B. Washburne of 
Illinois as follows : — 

" The people of the North need not quarrel over the institution 
of slaveiy. What Vice-President Stevens acknowledges the 
corner-stone of the Confederacy is already knocked out. Sla\ery 
is ah-eady dead, and cannot be resurrected. It would take a 
standing army to maintain slavery in the South, if wo were to 



172 Life op General Grant. 

make peace to-day, guaranteeing to tlie South all their former 
constitutional privileges. I never was an abolitionist, not even 
what could be called antislavery ; but I try to judge faii-ly and 
honestly ; and it became patent to my mind, early in the Rebellion, 
that the North and South could never live at peace with each 
other except as one nation, and that without slavery. As anxious 
as I am to see pfeace estabhshed, I would not, therefore, be will- 
ing to see any settlement until this question is forever settled." 

In nothing was the arrogance of the slave-power 
more clearly seen than in their reasoning upon the 
relations of slaves to the war. They said, " Slaves are 
property : black soldiers shall be treated as fugitives, 
and their officers as havmg stolen them." But it is a 
universally acknowledged law of war, that the property 
of the enemy can be used or destroyed. Horses, mules, 
cotton, hay, grain, cattle, could be seized, because they 
are " property." But slaves are property, — a species 
of property vital to the support of the Rebellion, — and 
should therefore be used by the government. But 
here the slaveholders instantly pleaded then' rights under 
the Constitution which they were seeking to destroy. 
When the Union was assailed, the Constitution, in the 
eyes of slaveholders, was only a " compact," a piece of 
paper of no binding effect ; but, when slavery was 
assailed, the Constitution loomed up at once as " the 
great charter of our liberties," " a sacred bond," " a 
solemn covenant," to be obeyed though i;he heavens 
fell. 

Slaves could be made to work at the point of the 
bayonet, l)y thousands, on rebel fortifications ; and this 
Avas " constitutional ; " but for the government to allow 
slaves in the armies of the Union was " unconstitu- 
tional," said rebels and their Northern apologists. 



Port Hudson Taken. 173 

In an attack on Milliken's Bend during the Vicks- 
buro- campaign, it was rumored that several negro 
sokhers who had been cafJtured were hung by the 
rebels. Gen. Grant addressed Gen. Richard Taylor 
on the subject in the following style: "I feel no incHna- 
tion to retaliate for offences of irresponsible persons ; 
but if it is the policy of any general intrusted with 
the command of troops to show no quarter, or to punish 
with death prisoners taken in battle, I will accept the 
issue. It may be that you propose a different line of 
policy towards black troops, and officers commanding 
them, to that practised towards white troops : if so, I 
can assure you that these colored troops are regularly 
mustered into the service of the United States. The 
government, and all officers under the government, arc 
bound to give the same protection to these troops that 
they do to any other troops." 

Gen. Grant also issued the following orders for the 
care and protection of the freedmen in his depart- 
ment : — 

" At all military posts in States within tins department where 
slavery has been abolished by the proclamation of the President 
of the United States, camps will be established for such freed 
people of color as are out of employment. 

" Commanders of posts or districts wUl detail suitable officers 
from the army as superintendents of such camps. 

" It will be the duty of such superintendents to see that suita- 
ble rations are di-awn from the subsistence department for such 
people as are confided to their care. 

" All such persons supported by the government will be em- 
ployed in every practicable way, so as to avoid as far as possible 
their becoming a burden upon the government. They may be 
hired to planters or otlier citizens, on proper assurance that ne- 
groes so hired will not be run off beyond the military jurisdiction 



174 Life of General Grant. 

of tlie United States. They may be employed upon any puLlic 
works, in gathering crojis from abandoned plantations, and gener- 
ally in any manner local commanders may deem for the best inter- 
ests of the government, in compliance with the law and the policy 
of the Administration. 

" It will be the duty of the provost-marshal at every military 
post to see that every negro within the jurisdiction of the mili- 
tary authority is em2:)loyed by some white person, or is sent to the 
camps provided for freed people. 

" Citizens may make contracts with freed persons of color for 
theu" labor, giving wages per month in money ; or employ families 
of them by the year on plantations, &c., feeding, clothing, and 
supporting the iufh'm as well as the able-bodied, and giving a 
portion, not less than one-twentieth, of the commercial i)art of 
their crops in payment for such service. 

" Where negroes are employed under this authority, the parties 
employing will register with the provost-marshal their names, 
occupation, and residence, and the number of negToes so 
employed ; they will enter into such bonds as the provost-mar- 
shal, with the approval of the local commander, maj- require for 
the kind treatment and proper care of those employed, and as 
security against their being carried beyond the employe's jiu-is- 
diction. Nothing of this order is to be construed to embarrass the 
employment of such colored persons as may be required by the 
government." 

" By order of Major-Gen. U. S. Grant." 

It was at Milliken's Bend and Port Hudson that the 
bravery of the black soldiers first answered the ques- 
tion, " Will the negroes fight ? " Gen. Banks, in his 
report, said, " The position occupied by these troops 
was one of importance, and called for the utmost steadi- 
ness and bravery in those to whom it was confided. It 
gives me pleasure to report that they answered every 
expectation : in many respects, their conduct was 
heroic. No troops could be more determined or more 



Port Hudson Taken. 175 

daring. They made during the day three charo-es 
upon the batteries of the enemy, suffering very heavy 
losses, and holding their position at nightfall with the 
other troops on the right of our line." 

The following lines by Mr. Boker were published 
about this time : — 

" Hundreds -on liundreds fell : 
But they are resting well; 
Scourjres and shackles strongr 
Never shall do them wrong. 
Oh I to the living few, 
Soldiers, be just and true ; 
Hail them as comrades tried ; 
Fight with them side by side : 
Never, in field or tent, 
Scorn the black regiment." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THEORIES OF TRADE. ENGLAND'S NEUTRALITY. 

a RANT now understood perfectly the character of 
the war, and ui'ged a vigorous use of all the rec- 
oo-nized means of weakening the enemy. Until the 
battle at Pittsburg Landing, he believed the difficulties 
could be settled by negotiations between the sections ; 
but, after he became satisfied of his mistake, he went 
for war with all its terrible realities. 

" Feed your armies on the country which makes the 
war;" "Destroy every thing useful to the enemy;" 
" Seize every thing useful to your own forces." Have 
no measures of half war and half peace. If you block- 
ade the rebel ports, and shut the South out from trade, 
shut them out wholly. Draw the cord so tight, that 
all commerce with them shall be strangled. Let there 
be no half trade and half non-intercourse. It was in 
this spirit that Gen. Grant thus wrote to Washington 
in answer to suggestions for partial trading : " No matter 
what the restrictions thrown around trade, if any what- 
ever Is allowed, it will be made the means of supplying 
the enemy with all they want. Restrictions, if lived 
up to, make trade unprofitable ; and hence none but 
dishonest men go into it. I will venture that no honest 
man has made money in West Tennessee in the last 

176 



Theories of Trade. 177 

year ; whilst many fortunes have been made there 
during that time. The people in the Mississippi Valley 
are now nearly subjugated. Keep trade out but a few 
months, and I doubt not but that the work of subjuga- 
tion will be so complete, that trade can be opened freely 
with the States of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi." 
He concluded, "iVo theory of my oivn ivill ever stand 
in the tvay of my executing in good faith any order I 
may receive from those in authority over me : but my 
position has given me an opportunity of seeing what 
could not be known by persons away from the scene of 
war ; and I venture, therefore, great caution in opening 
trade with rebels." 

Gen. Halleck perceived fiiUy the vast importance of 
the results achieved, and generously wrote to Grant, — 

"Your narration of the campaign, like tlie operations them- 
selves, is brief, soldierly, and in every respect creditable and satis- 
factory. In boldness of plan, rapidity of execution, and brilliancy 
of routes, these operations will compare most favorably with those 
of Napoleon abd&t Ulm. You and your army have well deserved 
the gratitude of yoiu- country ; and it will be the boast of your 
children that their fathers were of the heroic army which re-opened 
the Mississippi River." 

The rank of major-general in the regular army was 
conferred upon Gen. Grant ; and the country eveiy- 
wliere rejoiced in the success of his armies. 

On the 26th of July he writes, " I am very much 
opposed to any trade whatever until the Rebellion in 
this part of the country is entirely crushed out." 

On the 13th of August, " My opinion is, that all 
trade with any enemy with whom we are at war is cal- 
culated to weaken us indirectly. I am opposed to sell- 

12 



178 Life of General Grant. 

ing or buying from them whilst war exists, except those 
within om' hnes." 

Still later he says, " If trade is opened under any 
general rule, all sorts of dishonest men will engage in 
it ; taking any oath or obligation necessary to secure the 
privilege. Smuggling will at once commence, as it did 
at Memphis, Helena, and every other place where trade 
has been allowed within the disloyal States ; and the 
armed enemy will be enabled to procure from Northern 
markets every article they require." 

Yet, at the same time, application was made to Gen. 
Grant for medicine* by the rebel sick at Raymond, and 
subsistence for some families who were in extreme suf- 
fering ; and he ordered supplies forwarded at once. 

He acted in the spirit of a father, and wrote, "It 
should be our pohcy now to make as favorable an im- 
pression upon the people of this State as possible. 
Impress upon the men the importance of going through 
the State in an orderly manner, refraining from taking 
any thing not absolutely necessary for their subsistence 
while travelling. They should try to create as favorable 
an impression as possible upon the people ; and advise 
them, if it will do any good, to make efforts to have law 
and order established within the Union." 

There could be no wiser policy than this. A move- 
ment was soon after made by citizens near Pearl River 
to bring Mississippi back into the Union ; but it was 
premature. 

Grant now advised that Mobile should be taken, the 
expedition starting from Lake Pontchartrain. If this 
advice had been followed, and an attack been made at 
once, there is little doubt that Mobile would have fallen, 



England's Neutrality. 179 

and the war have been shortened by a year. But this 
was not done. Tlie President himself wrote to Grant, 
"i see by a despatch of yours that you inchne strongly 
towards an expedition against Mobile. This would 
appear tempting to me also, were it not, that, in view 
of recent events in Mexico, I am greatly impressed 
with the importance of re-estabhshing the national au- 
thority in Western Texas. 

The truth was, that the government at this time was 
greatly embarrassed by the movements of England and 
France in Mexico, and desired to strengthen itself on 
the border-line between Mexico and Texas. It was 
impossible to foretell what the hostility of the English 
Government might prompt them to do. 

The policy of England had fastened slavery upon us 
as colonies, and her people had w^axcd rich upon the 
profits of the slave-trade. Within fifty years, a milhon 
and a half of its inhabitants were stolen from the coast of 
Africa by English ships, a quarter of a million of whom 
died from the horrors of the voyage ; and their floating 
corpses showed the track of the vessels. 

Their orators and writers never failed to denounce 
the crime of American slavery ; yet, when slavery made 
war upon the Repubhc, they hastened to bestow belliger- 
ent rights upon the slaveholders before the American 
minister could present himself at her court. 

In all the varieties of argument, ridicule, and persua- 
sion, the war for the Union was denounced in its causes, 
its objects, and the methods of its pursuit, by the states- 
men, the press, and the writers of England. 

Her people carried on a civil war for nearly a hun- 
dred years, until massacre and devastation had well- 



180 Life of General Grant. 

nio-li destroyed the land, on the question, whether, if the 
kino; died without a child, he should be followed by his 
brother, or the son of his brother. 

Yet a nation three thousand miles distant from their 
shores, carrying on a war for four years to maintain its 
national life, and uphold human liberty, was execrated 
as exhibiting the " bloodiest picture In the book of time." 
Englishmen dethroned seven of their kings, and be- 
headed another ; drove into exile the house of Stuart ; 
and imported aliens from Germany, ignorant of their 
language and their laws, to play for them the part of 
royalty ; and sneered at Americans because they had 
" no personal representative of loyalty." 

For years, the scaffolds of England were red with the 
blood of the noblest martyi-s to Hberty in Church and 
State ; and yet they sermonized to Americans on " tol- 
eration in poHtical differences." 

England built ships for the rebel navy, forged their 
guns, crowded their decks with sailors, furnished them 
" with supplies, welcomed and protected them in their 
ports, rejoiced m the destruction of our unarmed mer- 
chantmen, sorrowed at rebel defeats, mourned over the 
sinkino; of " The Alabama " as if it were a national 
disaster, and boasted to us of their " strict neutrahty." 

In India, England seized upon that vast country and 
its wealth ; and, when its rapacity and oppression for 
long years had goaded its people to resistance, they blew 
the rebel Sepoys in pieces from the mouths of thefr can- 
non, and preached to Americans of " magnanimity to 
rebels." 

In Ireland, England has robbed and plundered the 
inhabitants for five hundred years, and driven them like 



England's Neutrality. 181 

exiles beyond the seas, and discom'ses to Americans of 
" moderation in politics." * 

During the campaign, furloughs had been granted 
only in extreme cases and for short periods. Now 
Grant ordered furloughs to be issued for thirty days to 
five per cent of the non-commissioned officers and pri- 
vates, except those who had shirked duty, or straggled 
on the march or from camps. All sick soldiers were 
also sent home. Gen. Grant had a special hatred of 
jobbing, speculating, or making money out of the 
war, but particularly out of the necessities of the sol- 
diers. As a practical illustration of the effect of " trade 
folloAving the flag," and his care of the soldiers, the fol- 
lowing fact may be mentioned: As soon as the river 
was opened, steamers came to Vicksburg to convey fur- 
loughed troops up the river at extortionate charges, 
demanding twenty-five and thirty dollars for a passage 
from Vicksburg to Cairo. 

One steamer had its decks crowded with soldiers. 
Grant asked a man standing on the wheel-house, and 
giving orders loudly, "Are you the captain of this 
boat ? " 

" Yes, general." 

" How many soldiers have you on board ? " 

" About twelve hundred and fifty." 

" What have you charged for fare to Cairo ? " 

" From ten to twenty-five dollars each, general." 

" Ten to twenty-five dollars each ! Is that all ? Why, 

* No State paper issued during the war presented the conduct of the Eng- 
lish Government toward America with more clearness, force, and eloquence, 
than the eulogy ou President Lincoln by Hon. Charles Sumner, whose pen, 
as Johnson said of Goldsmith's, touches nothing it does not adorn. 



182 Life of General Grant. 

that is too moderate ! It is a pity you should have to 
take the boys for so small a sum. You had better wait 
a while," Speaking to the officer on guard, he walked 
away. The steam whistled, the bell rung, the wheels 
began to move slowly; but, for some reason, she was 
not cast off. The men could not understand it, until, hi 
a few moments, an order came for the guard to keep the 
steamer imtil the captain paid back all over seven dol- 
lars taken for flire from each officer, and all over five 
dollars from each soldier ; and the order was obeyed. 

The men knew they had been victimized, but felt 
helpless. When they learned what the general had 
done, they gave " three cheers for Grant " with a will. 

Grant said to one of his staff, " I'll teach these steam- 
boat-men that the boys who have opened the river for 
them are not to be plundered of their hard earnings on 
theu' first trip home. If ' trade is to follow the flag ' so 
soon, it shall be honest trade, so far as I can control it." 

It was necessary for Grant soon after to visit Mem- 
phis. Before leaving, the officers who had been wit- 
nesses of the incessant care and anxiety which Grant 
had given to the campaign desired to offer some testi- 
monial of their personal appreciation of his services to 
the country and to the army. They presented him with 
a splendid sword; the handle representing a young 
giant crushing the Rebellion, elaborately designed ; the 
scabbard of solid silver ; the whole appropriately in- 
scribed, and enclosed in an elegant rosewood box bound 
with ivory and lined with satin. 

Gen. Grant arrived at iNIemphis on the 25th of Au- 
gust, and was at once waited on by a committee of the 
citizens, and invited to a public reception and dinner. 



England's Neutrality. 183 

Tliough disliking all display, Grant did not feel at liber- 
ty to decline such a manifestation of loyalty on the part 
of the citizens, and accepted. He addressed to the 
committee the following admirable letter : — 

I received a copy of tlie resolutions passed by the loyal citizens 
of Memphis at the meeting held at the rooms of the Chamber of 
Commerce, Aug. 25, 1863, tendering me a public reception. In 
accepting this pro^DOsal, which I do at a great sacrifice of my per- 
sonal feelings, I simply desire to pay a tribute to the first public 
exhibitioia in Memphis of loyalty to the government, -uhich I rep- 
resent in the Department of Tennessee. I should dislike to refuse, 
for considerations of personal convenience, to acknowledge every- 
where, or in any form, the existence of sentiments which I have so 
long and ardently desired to see manifested in this department. 
The stability of this government and the unity of this nation depend 
solely on the cordial support and the earnest loyalty of the people. 
"While, therefore, I thank you sincerely for the kind expressions 
you have used towards myself, I am profoundly gratified at this 
public recognition, in the city of Memphis, of the power and au- 
thority of the government of the United States. I thank j-ou, too, 
in the name of the noble army which I have the honor to command. 
It is composed of men whose loyalty is proved by their deeds of 
heroism and then- willing sacrifices of life and health. They will 
rejoice with me that the miserable adherents of the Rebellion, 
whom then- bayonets have di-iven from this fan- field, are being 
replaced by men who acknowledge Tiuman liberty as the only true 
foundation of human government. 

May your efibrts to restore your city to the cause of the Union 
be as successful as have been theirs to reclaim it from the despotic 
ride of the leaders of the Rebellion ! 

I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your very obedient servant, 
U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

At the dinner, when the toast in honor of Gen. 
Grant was given, he declined to make a speech ; and 
Surgeon Hewitt of his staff said, "I am instructed by 



184 Life of General Grant. 

Gen. Grant to say, that, as he has never been given to 
pubhc speaking, you will have to excuse him on this 
occasion ; and, as I am the only member of his staff 
present, I therefore feel it to be my duty to thank you 
for this manifestation of yom* good will, as also for the 
numerous other kindnesses of which he has been the 
recipient ever since his arrival among you. Gen. 
Grant beheves, that, in all he has done, he has no more 
than accomphshed a duty, and one, too, for which no 
particular honor is due. But the world, as you do, will 
accord otherwise." 

Gen. Grant could fight ; he could write : but he could 
not make a speech. " If you want a man to toZA;," said 
the Greeks, " get an Athenian ; if you want a man to 
act, get a Spartan." 

Gen. Grant went down to New Orleans to confer 
with Gen. Banks in regard to affairs in Texas, stop- 
ping at Natchez, and inspecting this and other posts in 
his department. 

The following day, it was officially announced that 
trade on the river, throughout its length, was free fi-om 
all restrictions. 

A day or two after, Sept. 4, there was a grand re- 
view of the troops. An eye-witness thus describes 
the departure of Gen. Grant from his hotel : " Gen. 
Banks, accompanied by a numerous staff", was at the 
St. Charles Hotel as early as eight o'clock ; and at 
nine o'clock both generals left for Carrollton, where the « 
review took place. The street was crowded to witness 
the departure of these officers ; all present being desir- 
ous of seeing Gen. Gi'ant. He was in undress uniform, 
without sword, sash, or belt ; coat unbuttoned ; a low- 



England's Neutrality. 185 

crowned black felt liat, without any mark upon it of 
military rank ; a pair of kid gloves ; and a cigar in 
his mouth." 

It seems often to be an mdispensable part of the hon- 
or done to a public man in giving him a reception to 
provide him with an elegant horse which will do his best 
to break his neck. Washington, Lafayette, Jackson, 
Kossuth, had narrow escapes in this way. Virginians 
said, that Washington had such power of muscle, that, 
with a good bit, he could jerk a horse back on his 
haunches. Kossuth had been so much annoyed by 
vicious but good-looking horses, that he once ventured, 
in an-ano-ino- for a review, to ask of the committee " a 
quiet horse.'''' This was instantly telegraphed over the 
country by the papers opposed to him as proof that he 
was a coward. 

Gen. Grant's horse became excited on his return 
from the review ; ran against a car, and injured him so- 
much, that he had to be placed on a litter. His breast- 
bone was said to have been crushed, three ribs broken, 
and he was confined to his bed for three weeks. He 
did not walk without crutches for two months. It was 
feared at one time that he would never be able to take 
the field again. 

As soon as he was partially recovered, he moved up 
the Mississippi on a steamer, stopping at different places 
as the public service required. On the 16th of October, 
he received at Cairo the following telegraphic despatch 
from Gen. Halleck : " You will immediately proceed 
to the Gait House, Louisville, Ky., where you will 
meet an officer of the War Department with your 
orders and instructions. You will take with you your 
staff, &c., for immediate operations in the field." 



186 Life of GeneRxVL Grant. 

Grant immccliatelj started for Louisville, but was 
met at Indianapolis by Hon. Mr. Stanton, Secretary of 
War, wlio accompanied liim on his journey. 

At the Gait House, the distinguished general attract- 
ed much notice. Amono; the stalwart Kentuckians was 
one from the " rural districts," who seemed to be dis- 
appointed that he was not a giant in size. 

" Is that the great Gen. Grant ? " said he to a 
gentleman. 

" Yes, sir : that is Gen. Grant." 

" Well ! I thought he was a large man. He would 
be considered a small chance of a fighter if he lived in 
Kentucky." The Kentuckian had not learned that 
generals fight battles with their brains. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



BATTLE AT WAUHATCHIE. 



a EN. GRANT now found himself appointed to a 
department newly created, reaching from the 
Alleghanies to the Mississippi, and called the " Depart- 
ment of the Mississippi." It embraced the departments 
before known as the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the 
Tennessee. It included the States of Michigan, 
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missis- 
sippi, Northern Alabama, and North-western Georgia. 
It contained two hundred thousand soldiers, and' 
stretched a thousand miles from east to west. In 
uniting these departments under one commander, the 
government was adopting the policy which Grant liad 
always recommended, of placing the military power of 
the nation under one head, and not subdivided into 
half a dozen armies, marchino- and fightino; each on its 
own plan. If half a dozen divisions, under half a dozen 
different generals, were to meet on any one battle-field, 
and all were to attack the enemy here and there, with- 
out plan, as the judgment of each prompted, it would 
be thought absiu'd, and sure to end in disaster. But 
the whole country Avas one battle-field : its amnios were 
only divisions of one grand army, and should be sub- 
jected to one brain, and wielded by one will. 

187 



188 Life op General Grant. 

The command now tendered to Grant was the 
largest ever given to any officer. It was worthy of 
any man's ambition : it was equal to any man's abilities. 

The national forces had met with a severe repulse at 
Chickamauga, Sept. 23, and had fallen back to Chatta- 
nooga under circumstances which caused great depres- 
sion. Grant had thought it not improbable that 
Sherman might be called to the command of the 
Army of the Cumberland ; and he had written to 
Sherman, " I have constantly had the feeling that 
I shall lose you from this command entirely. Of 
course, I do not object to seeing your sphere of useful- 
ness enlarged, and think it should have been enlarged 
long ago, having an eye to the public good alone ; but 
it needs no assurance from me, general, that taking a 
more selfish view, while I would heartily approve such 
a change, I would deeply regret it on my own 
account." 

Sherman was at Memphis when he heard that Grant 
had been ordered North ; and at once wrote him, 
" Accept the command of the great army of the 
centre : don't hesitate. By your presence at Nashville, 
you will unite all discordant elements, and impress the 
enemy in proportion. All success and honor to you ! " 

There are noble things in human nature with all its 
frailties. 

The government feared that Chattanooga, which was 
short of provisions, would be abandoned before Gen. 
Grant could arrive there : and he was directed to 
assume command at once by telegraphing to Rosecrans, 
Thomas, and Burnside, which he did ; the former 
being in command at Chattanooga. The country had 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 189 

yet to be studied by him, the condition of the army to 
be learned in detail. He gathered what he could from 
maps and the full statements of Mr. Stanton. But, 
the moment his mind began to grasp the great facts, 
it is curious to see how it leaped into the work ; how 
impatient he grew to stay results until he could arrive 
in the midst of them. He was in the hotel at Louis- 
ville, Ky. At half-past eleven o'clock at night, he 
telegraphed eagerly to Gen. Thomas, " Hold Chatta- 
nooga at all hazards. I will be there as soon as pos- 
sible." How noble and how gratifying the reply Avhich 
was immediately flashed over the wires by Thomas, " I 
will hold the town till we starve " ! 

Early the next morning, Oct. 20, Grant started by 
steam, and reached Nashville at night. But, during 
the day, his mind had been incessantly revolving the 
affairs of his unseen command ; and he at once tele- 
graphed to Burnside, who was at Knoxville, Tenn., in 
command of the Department of the Ohio, but in 
circumstances creating great anxiety at Washington, 
"Have you tools for fortifying ? Important points in 
East Tennessee should be put in condition to be held by 
the smallest number of men as soon as possible. . . . 
I will be in Stevenson to-morrow night, and Chatta- 
nooga the next night." 

To Admiral Porter at Cairo he telegraphed, " Gen. 
Sherman's advance was at Eastport on the 15th. The 
sooner a gunboat can be got to him, the better. Boats 
must now be on the way from St. Louis with supplies 
to go up the Tennessee for Sherman." 

To Thomas, whose gi'eat difficulty of obtaining sup- 
plies he fully appreciates, he telegraphs, " Should not 



190 Life of Geneeal Grant. 

large working-parties be put upon the road between 
Bridgeport and Chattanooga at once?" Farther on 
the road, at Bridgeport, he telegraphs to Nashville, 
" Send to the front, as speedily as possible, vegetables 
for the army. Beans and hominy are especially re- 
quired." 

His restless energy was overflowing wherever on the 
route he could find lightning to carry his commands. 
Every hour, every moment, was precious. It was evi- 
dently the same man at work at the telegraph-wires, 
who could not find time for three days and nights to 
take off his clothes when starting from Bruinsburg on 
his Vicksburg campaign ; whose orders were every- 
where, — in the hands of his staff, the ordnance-offi- 
cers, commissaries, corps commanders, — and were every- 
where obeyed. During the evening, both here and at 
Louisville, a large crQwd gathered at the hotel, and 
called for a speech ; but he declined. He was mak- 
ing more effective speeches over the wires to his gen- 
erals. On his journey, he met for a few moments 
Gen. Rosecrans, whom he had superseded. Rosecrans 
was polite, and gave such information as the interview 
permitted of the condition of the army. At Bridge- 
port, Grant and his staff mounted horses. The rain 
poured in floods. They made their way as best they 
could over roads torn up by the mountain-torrents, and 
strewed with fragments of army-wagons, dead mules 
and horses. Parts of the road were so bad, that Grant, 
who was still lame and suffering from his injuries at 
New Orleans, had to be carried by some of the soldiers 
in their arms. But by steam-power, horse-power, and 
man-power, he was constantly moving, without a mo- 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 191 

ment's rest, to the post of duty. Of such stuff, heroes 
are made. 

It was night when Gen. Grant, cold, weary, and 
hungry, reached Chattanooga, and proceeded to Gen. 
Thomas's tent. He was at first scarcely recognized. 

It reminds us of a scone on the retreat of the French 
fi'om Russia. "Who are you?" said Gen. Dumas to 
an officer who suddenly entered his quarters, his beard 
mishaved, his face black with gunpowder. 

"Do you not know me?" was the answer. " I am 
the rear-guard of the Grand Army, the last man to 
leave Russia, — Marshal Ney." 

Grant came at night, without the thunders of artillery, 
and with only the members of his staff; but the army 
was re-enforced that hour with a power that was soon 
to overwhelm the enemy with irretrievable disaster. 

Gen. Thomas, whose valor well-nigh saved the day 
at Chickamauga, received his commander with the 
courtesy of the gentleman and the nobleness of the 
soldier. There had been rumors that Thomas him- 
self would be appointed to the command. He assured 
Grant he was glad the post had been given to " a suc- 
cessful man ; " and he promised him at once the most 
cordial support. 

The next morning. Grant and Thomas rode out 
together. 

Chattanooga, the Indian name for " eagle's nest," is 
situated at a bend of the Tennessee River, two hundred 
and fifty miles by Avater below Knoxville, near the 
corners of the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennes- 
see. It is the junction of the Memphis and Charleston, 
and Richmond and Nashville Railroads, connectino; with 



192 Life op General Grant. 

the chief towns of Georgia. Three miles west of the 
town is Lookout Mountain, twenty-two hundred feet 
high, about a mile and a half across. West of this is 
Raccoon Mountain. Lookout River flows in the valley 
between them. South and west of Chattanooga is 
Missionary Ridge, about three miles distant, and four 
hundred feet high. It was so named because it was 
the boundary beyond which the missionaries were not 
allowed to pass by the Indians. The rebels, with their 
batteries, held all of these heights, completely command- 
ing the town and plain below. It commanded the 
passage south into the cotton States. 

The Indians had determined that this valley and these 
mountains should be the outposts beyond w^hich the 
white man should not carry the blessings of civilization 
and Christianity, In a similar spirit, slavery now sought 
at the same barriers to stay the great tide of freedom 
and free labor which was sweeping on to the shores of 
the Pacific. It was a position of vast natural strength 
and of untold importance to the Southern Confederacy. 

The national army, by the defeat at Chickamauga, 
had been entirely shut in, with no means of feeding 
itself except by carting supplies sixty miles over the 
mountains from Nashville. ■ 

The whole army was on half-rations ; three thousand 
were in the hospitals ; ten thousand horses and mules 
had died around the town ; there was only ammunition 
for one battle. The men were cheerless, feeble fi'om 
lack of food, and disheartened by recent defeat. 

Gen. Bragg, holding the route by which re-enforce- 
ments must come, felt that famine and despair were 
conquering the national army faster than he could by 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 193 

pitched battles. It was late in October. The nights 
were cold ; and the soldiers were, many of them, with- 
out overcoats and blankets. 

It was conceded that affairs could continue thus but a 
few days longer without the ruin of the army. Grant 
determined to open the valley route to Bridgeport. He 
ordered Gen. Hooker, who had been sent to the aid of 
Rosecrans with the Eleventh and Tweh^di Corps from 
the Army of the Potomac, to cross the river at Bridge- 
port, and advance up Lookout Valley to Wauhatchie, 
threatenino; an attack on Bragg's flank. A force under 
Gen. Palmer was also to cross the river opposite Chat- 
tanooga, and march down the north side of the river to 
a point opposite Whitesides, to Hooker's support. Mean- 
time, a force under Gen. W. F. Smith, of foui' thousand 
men, was to seize by surprise the range of hills at the 
north of Lookout Valley, which commanded a road 
from Kelley's Ferry to Bridgeport. Thus supplies 
could be received by steamers or by ordinary teams. 

The vast importance of obtaining control of the road 
from this ferry to Bridgeport had been proposed, ad- 
mitted, discussed, and contemplated : but it remained 
for Grant to issue orders that the work be done ; and 
this he did on the first day he arrived, after examining 
the ground. At three o'clock in the morning, on the 
27th, sixty pontoon-boats, each containing tliirty men, 
floated quietly out from Chattanooga. They were 
under command of Brio-. -Gen. Hazen. 

They had nine miles to pass, in seven of which they 
would be exposed to the fire of the rebel pickets. But 
the night was very dark, the current swift, rendering 
oars less necessary ; and, by hugging the northern shore 

13 



194 Life op General Grant. 

of the river, tliey hoped to pass without discovery. 
Secrecy and surprise were important to the success of 
the undertaking ; because, if the enemy had time to 
concentrate, it woiild be ahnost impossible, from the 
nature of the ground, for our men to attack success- 
fully. The boats floated as silently down the river as 
the boats of Wolfe glided down the St. Lawrence to the 
Heights of Abraham. Not a man spoke, not a gunlock 
clicked, not an oar was stirred ; but every eye Avas 
strained to the mountain-side in the distance. As the 
men came nearer, the rebel camp-fires could be seen 
blazing far up in the darkness ; and now and then the 
rebel pickets were heard singing, " Way down in 
Dixie ! " They rounded the foot of the mountain, 
touched the south side of the river at Brown's Ferry, 
leaped ashore, surprised a rebel picket, rushed up the 
steep, slippery ridge, three hundred feet high ; and the 
first point was gained. 

Another portion of Smith's force had crossed at 
Brown's Ferry, moved down the north bank of the 
river ; and by five o'clock the whole command were so 
securely placed, that only a very large force could 
drive them out. The men who had crossed at Brown's 
Ferry began constructing a bridge ; and by ten o'clock 
an excellent pontoon-bridge was in working-order, and 
artillery were placed to command the roads aromid the 
base of the mountain to the enemy's camps on the 
other side. Supplies could now be brought from 
Bridgeport to Kellcy's Ferry without trouble. 

Hooker had crossed the Tennessee at Bridgeport, 
accompanied by Gen. Howard and Brig.-Gen. Geary, 
and marched along the line of the Nashville and Chat- 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 195 

tanooga Railroad to Waulmtchie, — a small station on 
this road in Lookout Valley, about twelve miles from 
Chattanooga. He drove the rebel pickets in, meeting 
no serious opposition. He had Avith him about seven 
thousand men. At night, the advance with Howard 
halted near Brown's Ferry. Geary's smaller portion 
of the force was at Wauhatchie, some three miles 
distant, to hold the road up the valley from Kelley's 
Ferry. The rebels had seen the day's proceedings 
from the heights, and understood their import ; but were 
not strono; enough there to descend, and encounter the 
whole force. A division of Longstreet's celebrated 
corps was there ; and it was determined that they 
should attack Geary at one o'clock at night with supe- 
rior numbers, trusting to the terrors of a night-assault, 
in an unknown region, to destroy him. 

But they were bravely met. Howard hurried down 
his nearest division to Geary's support; and the enemy 
found, after a desperate fight of two or three hours, 
that the Union troops had come to stay. In the dark- 
ness and confusion, some of the mules from the army- 
Avagons broke loose, and ran pell-mell toward the 
enemy, who at first thought it a charge of cavalry ; 
creating a panic, and increasing the confusion insepara- 
ble, to some extent, from a night-assault. 

By four o'clock the enemy withdrew, leaving one 
hundred and fifty-three dead. 

The sun did not more surely lift the fogs from the 
valleys around Chattanooga than did Grant's genius 
lift the clouds of gloom from the national army. In 
five days after his arrival, steamers, loaded with food, 
clothing, blankets, shoes, were plying on the Tennessee 



196 Life of General Grant. 

fi'om Bridgeport to Kelley's Ferry. Horses, forage, 
and ammunition were forwarded to Chattanooga, full 
rations were issued to the half-starved troops, all was 
chano-ed ; in a word, it was hope, courage, and well- 
fed soldiers, in plaae of starvation and despair. From 
being, as Bragg expressed it, " at the mercy of the 
rebel force," this despondent army were now becoming 
the assailants. 

When Rosecrans was removed, the rebels sneered at 
the appointment of Grant to the command at Chatta- 
nooga, and said, " The Federals have taken away one 
general" [Rosecrans], "and put two fools " [Grant 
and Thomas] " in his place." Some one at this time 
showed the rebel paper containing this attempt at wit to 
Mr. Lincoln. He was " reminded of the story" of the 
Irishman, who, when buying a cooking-stove, being told, 
" This one stove will save half your fuel," answered, 
"Faith, then I'll take two stoves, and save the whole!" 
He said, " If one fool like Grant can win such victo- 
ries, and accomplish what he has, I don't object to two ; 
for they will certainly wipe out the rest of this Rebel- 
lion." 

At this time, "The Richmond Enquirer" thought 
the movements at Chattanooga were not such as they 
should be on the part of Gen. Bragg. It said, " The 
enemy were out-fought at Chickamauga ; (thanks to 
the army !) but the present position of aflfiiirs looks 
as though we had been out-generaled at Chattanooga." 
By no means an unwise conclusion. The people in the 
mountains of East Tennessee, of Northern Georgia 
and North Carolina, with Northern Alabama, had 
never imbibed the poison of treason. Like mountain- 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 197 

eers the world over, they loved freedom, and were 
inured to hardy toil. Their mountain-fastnesses were 
not fit homes for slaves. It has not been the sterile 
mountain-passes clad with snow and ice, but the warm 
and fertile plains covered with waving and golden hai- 
vests, and flowing with oil and wine, which in all ages 
have invijted and yielded to the arms of invasion. 

The sufferino;s of the noble Union men in these 
regions, especially in Tennessee, had deeply moved the 
hearts of the North. They had been thrown into 
filthy prisons ; they had been hung and shot ; tied to 
logs, and whipped to death ; their houses plundered, 
and burned over their heads ; husbands murdered 
before their wives and children ; or, escaping this, they 
had fled to caves: to die by starvation, or be fed by the 
hand of charity. These persecutions were continued 
in every form that the "barbarism of slavery" could 
devise to drive the people into support of the Rebellion, 
and fill the rebel armies ; but all without avail. 

Gen. Grant determined that this style of warfare 
should cease ; and he issued orders, that, — 

" For every act of violence to the person of an unarmed Union 
citizen, a secessionist will be arrested, and held as hostage for the 
delivery of the offender. For every dollar's worth of property 
taken fi-om such citizens, or destroyed by raiders, an assessment 
will be made upon secessionists of the neighborhood, and collected 
by the nearest military forces, under the supervision of the com- 
mander thereof; and the amount thus collected paid over to the 
sufferers. \Vhen such assessments cannot be collected in money, 
property useful to the government may be taken at a fair valua- 
tion, and the amount paid in money by a disbursing officer of the 
government, who will take such property upon his returns. 
Wealthy secession citizens will be assessed in money and pro- 



198 Life op General Grant. 

visions for tlie support of Union refugees who have been or may be 
driven from their homes and into our lines by the acts of those 
with whom secession citizens are in sympathy. All collections 
and pa^Tiients under this order will be made through the disburs- 
ing officers of the government, whose accounts must show all 
money and property received under it, and how disposed of. 

" By order of Major-Gen. U. S. Grant." 

Gen. Grant's orders were not mere paper-orders to 
"be read and forgotten, but were rigidly and strictly 
enforced. 

Gen. Burnside, with twenty-five thousand men, was 
at Knoxville, short of rations and ammunition, and with 
no means of obtaining any without great delays and 
throuo;h long and circuitous routes. 

His situation excited great anxiety at Washington, 
and the authorities were constantly urging Grant to 
" relieve Burnside ; " but how to do so was the prob- 
lem. Burnside himself was least concerned of all about 
his safety. 

On the 3d of November, Bragg determined to send 
twenty thousand men under Longstreet to " drive Burn- 
side out of East Tennessee, or, better, to capture or 
destroy him." He took with him eighty guns. They 
did not start till the 13th. 

Grant hud foreseen a movement of this nature, and 
had telegraphed his apprehensions to Burnside some 
time before. 

Grant ordered an attack to be made on Bragg's 
positions at Missionary Ridge, as a diversion in favor of 
Burnside, and to brino; Loncrstreet back : but it was 
ascertained by Gen. Thomas that he had no horses to 
move his artillery ; and the condition of his army was 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 199 

not equal to so hazardous a movement ; and he so 
reported. 

Burnside was so isolated, and the means of communi- 
cation so slow, that many evils were dreaded in his 
behalf, which a more rapid communication would have 
shown to be groundless. 

Sherman was on his way from Memphis with the 
Fifteenth Army Corps ; but he was to march four lum- 
dred miles across the country. It is a long journey 
from the Mississippi River to Chattanooga, when you 
make the distance on foot, step by step. There is 
nothing to be done, therefore, but for Burnside to hold 
on and hold out till Sherman's force can re-enforce 
Grant. But how hard for Grant to wait ! Every day 
seems a week. 

Brao-c; has reduced his streno-th to attack Burnside. 
If Grant could only now attack Bragg, he could defeat 
him, and then follow and defeat Lono;street. The con- 
templation of all these facts and possibilities stirs him to 
even unwonted activity in all directions. To Sherman 
he telegraphed as early as Oct. 24, the day after he 
arrived at Chattanooga, " Drop every thing east of 
Bear Creek, and remove with your entire force towards 
Stevenson until you receive further orders. The 
enemy are evidently moving a large force towards 
Cleveland, and may break through our lines, and move 
on Nashville ; in which event, your troops are the only 
forces at command that could beat them there.'' 

This was sent by a courier, who floated down the 
river, to Tuscumbia ; and from there was sent to Sher- 
man at luka. 

Gen. Grant watched his march almost every hour 



200 Life of General. Grant. 

after this until his arrival ; studying his route, anticipat- 
ing and providing for the wants of his men, step by 
step. On the 7th hfe telegraphs, " Gen. Sherman will 
reach Fayetteville to-morrow without any thing to eat. 
See the shipping commissary, and direct him to secure 
transportation, and send one hundred thousand rations 
to-morrow morning." 

Sherman was marching, fighting, and toiling on 
through the soft, glutinous roads, his teams often slump- 
ing in to their hubs ; climbing mountains ; fording 
streams ; straining every nerve to reach his chief. 

Meantime Grant is building bridges, repairing rail- 
roads, refitting steamboats, and watching over four 
armies, — three of his own, and one of the enemy. To 
Thomas he sent word, " The steamer ' Point of Rocks ' 
should by all means be got down to Brown's Ferry 
before morning, even if a house has to be torn down to 
get the necessary fuel." 

To his adjutant-general at Nashville, in regard to 
the forwarding of supplies, he telegraphs, " Make any 
order necessary to secure the result in the promptest 
manner." To another he says, " Make contracts with 
different bridge-builders, so as to get this work done in 
the shortest possible time. Extra bridges should also 
be in readiness at all times to replace any that may be 
destroyed. Keep me advised of wdiat you do in this 
matter." 

But day after day passes, and Grant suffers the most 
intense anxiety to attack Bragg before Longstreet re- 
turns. Every hour, he can see the lofty summit of Mis- 
sionary Ridge, and his eagerness to advance is consum- 
ing in its fervor ; every hour, Longstreet may return ; 



Battle at Wauhatchie. 201 

every hour he hopes for Sherman's corps. But four 
hunch'ed miles are just as long when in our impatience 
we would annihilate distance as when we move reluc- 
tantly to some undesired goal. 

But such desi/e leaves its mark. " If I should die 
to-day," wrote Nelson to the admiralty, " ' Want of 
frigates ' would be found engraven on my heart." 

As Sherman approaches nearer to Chattanooga, 
Grant's solicitude increases. He is picking out the 
best roads, and would doubtless level all the hills and 
fill up the valleys to make smooth travelling, and bring 
in his army in fine condition. On the 10th he writes, 
" I learn that by the way of New Market and Mays- 
ville you will avoid the heavy mountains, and find 
abundance of forage. If a part of your command is 
now at Winchester, and a part back, that portion behind 
had better be turned on the New-market route." 

The preparations, which had been made on a gigantic 
scale, were about completed, and the drama was soon to 
open. The numbers to be engaged in the coming 
battle, the transcendent interests involved, the natural 
gi'andeur of the scene of the great contest, would for- 
ever render it one of the most memorable battles in the 
annals of our country. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

PREPARATIONS AT CHATTANOOGA. 

a EN. GRANT'S department was truly an im- 
perial domain. As we have seen, it included 
ten States, covering nearly half a million square miles, 
and comprised more than eleven millions of people. It 
stretched from Lake Superior to Louisiana, and from 
Pennsylvania to the Valley of the Mississippi. It is not 
an exaggeration to say, that, during this time, there was 
scarcely a corner of this vast region, which, directly or 
indirectly, was not stirred by the preparations of the 
campaign. The cattle on a thousand hills were moving 
to feed the army ; a million hands were at work to 
clothe it, farnaces glowed by night and day. The 
railroads from Lake Erie to Natchez toiled hourly with 
their enormous labor. The Mississippi, the Ohio, the 
Tennessee, the Cumberland Rivers, were crowded witli 
fleets of steamers loaded with all the munitions of war ; 
and tens of thousands of soldiers, who were to decide 
the contest, were winding in long lines over mountain 
and plain, but all marching to the field of glory or the 
grave of honor. 

And the man whose active brain and indomitable will 
are organizing and directing this vast and complicated 

202 



i 



Preparations at Chattanooga. 203 

machinery is apparently all unconscious of his power. 
He looks sober ; talks but little to any one. Not yet 
recovered fi*om his recent accident, he limps around 
Chattanooga, smoking a brier-wood pipe, wearing a 
blouse and slouched hat. He often rides off to study 
the country, taking one or two of his staff with him ; 
but with no plumed troops, and flying pennons, and 
gorgeous pageantry of war. But the inexorable will, 
the fixed purpose to do or die, are all there. 

Sherman arrived at Chattanooga on the morning of 
the 15th in advance of his column, having reached 
Bridgeport the night previous. Grant, Sherman, and 
Thomas rode out on the high ground on the north 
of the Tennessee, whence the tents of the enemy and 
the whole theatre of operations were in full view, — "a 
mighty amphitheatre, where the actors were nearly 
ready to assume their parts, with distant mountains for 
spectators ; while cloud-capped hills, and valleys 
shrouded in mist that was lifted to display the move- 
ments of armies, formed the stage." * 

It was indeed a vast natural colosseum. Europe 
does not offer so grand a battle-field from Gibraltar to 
Moscow. It resembled more those granite gates of 
Greece of which fame has told us for two thousand 
years, where Leonidas and the three hundred sons 
of Sparta waited all night to offer up their lives with 
the morning's sun. 

Here Sherman was shown the eastern extremity of 
Missionary Ridge, which he was to attack. He entered 
at once with enthusiasm into all Grant's plans, and, the 

» Badeau. 



I 



204 Life of General Grant. 

same night, returned to Bridgeport to hurry up his 
troops ; himself rowing a boat, m his impatience, down 
from Kelley's Ferry. 

It was thought that Sherman's force could be brought 
up and put in position for battle by the 20th, and Grant 
gave orders to attack on the 21st ; but the condition of 
the army after such a march, heavy rains, and the 
terrible state of the roads, rendered it impossible to be 
prepared before the 23d. 

On the 20th, Gen. Bragg treated himself to the 
following sublimely impudent epistle to Gen. Grant : 
" General, as there may still be some non-combatants 
in Chattanooga, I deem it proper to notify you that 
prudence Avould dictate their early withdrawal." When 
Grant read this, he was convinced that Brasrs felt that 
"prudence dictated his own early withdrawal." His 
suspicions were soon after confirmed by the statements 
of a deserter. 

It was Grant's purj'ose to give Bragg the impression 
that Sherman's force was to be massed on his left ; but 
in reality they were to attack on his right. As fast as 
they arrived, therefore, they w^ere advanced to White - 
sides, where they were pushed behind the hills, out of 
the enemy's sight, to our left ; but the camp-fires were 
kept burning, and every art used to induce the belief 
that they were gathered where they first rested. They 
were constantly marching from Brown's Ferry, where 
they were seen by the enemy, up the river back of the 
hills, to a concealed camp. Once behind the hills, it 
was impossible for the enemy to know whether they 
had marched to Knoxville to relieve Burnside, or were 
still held on the north of the river. From this place 



Preparations at Chattanooga. 205 

Sherman's force was to emerge, lay a pontoon-bridge 
across the Tennessee, and attack Bragg's right. 

At noon on the 23d, Gen. Granger with the Fourth 
Corps advanced from our centre, held by Gen. Thomas, 
to ascertain the enemy's strength at this point. How- 
ard's corps was formed in mass behind Granger, 
Sheridan's division on the right, and Woods's on the 
left. 

It was a splendid day ; and the different divisions 
marched into position with the steadiness and precision 
of a grand review, which the rebels at first supposed it 
to be. They looked at the evolutions from the lofty 
heights of Missionary Ridge, and said, in sneering allu- 
sion to Hooker's men who had come from the Potomac, 
" Now we shall have a Potomac parade." They con- 
sidered the Army of the Potomac excellent at drilling, 
but poor at fighting. 

From the national line to the rebel rifle-pits was 
about a mile. The highest point for observation was 
Fort Wood, near our centre ; and here Grant took his 
position with Gen. Thomas. The troops moved over 
the ground in grand style, di'ove in the enemy's pick- 
ets, and captured the first line of rifle-pits and two hun- 
dred prisoners. Our fine noAv included a mound named 
" Orchard Knoll," which had been a redoubt of the 
rebel outer hue. The troops began intrenchmg at 
once. About five o'clock, the enemy opened a farious 
discharsje of shells, which was continued for some time 
without producing great effect. During the night, 
cannon were put in position, and our line greatly 
strengthened. The effect on the troops, of the after- 
noon's work, was inspiring. They had fought under 



206 Life of General Grant. 

the eye of the hero of Donelson and Champion's Hill 
and Vicksburg for the first time ; and here they were, 
their flags a mile in advance of the old line. 

They felt confident they should carry the summit 
whenever the order came to advance. The old 
Armv of the Cumberland was itself again. 

They were no longer starving, defeated men, but 
victorious soldiers. Grant had trusted them, took his 
stand with them ; and they were proud to show him 
they were worthy of their leader. They no longer 
thought of Chickamauga, except to avenge it. 

North Chickamauga Creek enters the Tennessee 
about five miles above the point on the river opposite, 
and in front of the hills behind which Sherman lay 
concealed. Here a hundred and sixteen pontoons were 
hidden with which to float down a portion of Sherman's 
men to land on the south side of the river, and com- 
mence the bridge on which Sherman's army was to 
cross. Seven hundred and fifty picked oarsmen were 
marched around behind the curtain of hills with 
Smith's brigade during the night of the 23d. By 
twelve o'clock at night, nearly three thousand five 
hundred soldiers were • passing down the river so 
silently, that even our own pickets on the north bank 
of the river did not discover them. 

Before daylight, they jumped ashore where Sherman's 
bridge was to be thrown across, and captured the enemy's 
astonished pickets before they fairly understood what had 
happened. The pontoons were sent back to be filled again, 
and returned. By daylight. Gen. Bragg found eight 
thousand men, well protected, putting a bridge over the 
river in front of his right, the northern end of Mission- 



Preparations at Chattanooga. 207 

ary Ridge. Opposite, another large force were at work 
in a similar manner. Cannon on both sides opened 
their fire ; but the men worked as if nothing could stop 
them. At the same time, boats were crossing the river, 
which is here about fourteen hundred feet wide, each 
carrying about forty soldiers, and landing them on the 
southern side of the Tennessee. It is evident to Bragg 
that Sherman is to attack here. This was not expected ; 
but it is too late now to prevent it. 

Howard with three regiments had marched up the 
south bank of the river from Chattanooga ; and now 
both ends of the bridge are rapidly building, and the 
intervening space is growing smaller and smaller. By 
twelve o'clock, the bridge is nearly completed. Sher- 
man is impatient, and advances on the northern side, 
almost plank by plank, animating and directing the 
men, who work incessantly : he wears a long India- 
rubber over-coat, and is talking and gesturing. The 
space is narrowing. Howard has advanced from the 
other side, and introduced himself to Sherman across 
the little gulf. The gap is filled ; and Sherman jumps 
across, and seizes Howard by the hand. 

By one o'clock, men, horses, artillery, and cavalry 
in large numbers, were over, and were formed in 
three columns in echelon; the left under M. L. Smith, 
the centre under J. E. Smith, and the right under 
Ewing. 

Sherman stands on a little mound, with his generals 
around, trying to light a cigar in the rain, wlien he 
quietly gives the order to advance. Grant is with 
Thomas in the centre, where the principal attack is to 
be made ; and Hooker is at Lookout Mountain, thirteen 



208 Life of General Grant. 

miles from Sherman : but all are on the same battle- 
field, carrying out one plan. 

Sherman fought his way steadily up ; and by half-past 
three he had secured the heights at the north end of 
Missionary Ridge, called " Tunnel Hill." The enemy 
tried to drive liim out with artillery ; but he threw up 
breastworks, dragged guns up the heights, and threw up 
intrenchments. Heavy mists from the river concealed 
him from view, until during the night it grew cold, the 
air cleared, and his camp-fires were seen stretching 
around toward Thomas, and holding the coveted posi- 
tion. 

Meanwhile, Hooker with fie^y valor had assaulted 
Lookout Mountain. The mountain did not slope grad- 
ually from base to summit ; but the first twenty -five or 
thirty feet were abrupt palisades. There were but two 
routes, — one a trail or footpath, the other a crooked 
road on the east side of the mountain. Hooker chose 
the road. Half-way up, the rebels had a line of earth- 
works, and rifle-pits in front of these. 

A portion of his force, under Geary, advanced up the 
Valley of the Lookout, threw a bridge over Lookout 
Creek, and swept around the north side of the moun- 
tain ; while another column attacked fi'om the south and 
west side, pressing their way through the forests, and 
climbing cliffs, as best they could. 

The enemy had been so attentively studying bridge- 
building as practised by Gen. Geary, that the advance 
of the column on the south-west was a surprise. 
Our batteries and those of the rebels kept up a terrific 
cannonade, and shrouded the whole hill in clouds of 
smoke. The enemy, taken in flank and rear, driven 



Preparations at Chattanooga. 209 

fi'om their earthworks, kept up their fire fi'om behind 
rocks and trees, but everywhere gave way. Prisoners 
were taken in large squads, who were found to be men 
who were paroled at Vicksburg, and had not been 
exchanged, though they had been so told by their 
officers. 

By two o'clock, the clouds and darkness on the moun- 
tain caused a cessation of the battle to some extent. 
To those below, the flashes of fire, the thunder of the 
artillery, the rolling clouds of smoke, recalled the de- 
scriptions given of Mount Sinai of old, when " the 
smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, 
and the whole mount quaked greatly." The loud 
cheers of our troops, sounding to their comrades in 
the valley to come from the skies, told that the height 
was won. By four o'clock, Hooker reported to Grant 
his success. At half-past five. Grant ordered Brig.- 
Gen. Carlin of the Fourteenth Corps to cross Chatta- 
nooga Creek, and join Hooker on the left. ^ 

The rebels gradually withdrew to concentrate on 
Missionary Ridge ; leaving twenty thousand rations, and 
camp-equipages for three brigades. 

At six o'clock. Grant telegraphed in modest terms to 
Washington, "The fight to-.day progressed favorably. 
Sherman carried the end of Missionary Ridge ; and his 
right is now at the tunnel, and left at Chickamauga 
Creek. Troops from Lookout Valley carried the point 
of the mountain, and now hold the eastern point and 
slope high up. Hooker reports two thousand prisoners 
taken, besides which a small number have fallen into 
our hands from Missionary Ridge." 

The President replied, " Your despatches as to fight- 

14 



210 Life of General Grant. 

ing on Monday and Tuesday are here. Well done I 
Thanks to all. Remember Burnside." 

By midnight the bugles were mute, the soldiers were 
sleeping, and the sentinels paced their weary round ; but 
there was no rest for their commander, who was busy 
despatching his orders for the next day's battle. 



J 



CHAPTER XX. 

BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE. 

a RANT was not a general who issued orders for a 
battle of two or three days' continuance, and 
then looked on to see it carried out, and was discon- 
certed and defeated if the progi*amme was interfei'ed 
with. He fought the battle, and issued orders as the 
battle developed. He fought his battles by military 
rules ; but he applied the rules as the exigencies 
changed on the field. No two battles are alike ; and 
his staff said it was not his habit to discuss the details 
and muse over the evolutions of celebrated battles, and 
speculate on what might have been if this had been so, 
and that had been otherwise. 

When the board was ready and the pieces placed, he 
played to win, as his own position and that of the enemy 
appeared to require. When the sun rose on the morn- 
ing of the 25th, the whole scene was spread out like a 
map. At the extreme right, on the lofty summit of 
Lookout Mountain, the national flag was seen flying, 
having been raised by the Eighth Kentucky Volunteers. 
In front was Missionary Ridge, four hundred feet high, 
seven miles long, where the rebel hosts, numbering 
forty-five thousand men, were now united. In the 
centre, Bragg's headquarters were plainly seen ; far off 

211 



212 Life of General Grant. 

on the left, Sherman's drums were heard on the crests 
he had won the afternoon before. Trees, houses, 
fences, had all been removed ; and the field was clear 
for the day's great work. 

Grant, with Thomas and some of his division gener- 
als, was on Orchard Knoll, the highest point of observa- 
tion along the Union hues. Hooker had descended from 
Lookout Mountain, crossed the valley, and was at the 
south end of Missionary Ridge. 

Grant's plan was to attack the enemy on both flanks 
until he was compelled to weaken his centre to support 
them ; when the centre was to be broken, and the ridge 
carried. 

The eminence which Sherman had carried was not 
continuous with the whole ridge ; but ravines and 
gorges intervened, and each was strongly fortified 
and defended, — those behind rising above those in 
front, and aflPording a chance for the rebel artillery to 
play upon our advancing columns with great effect. 
Sherman had been in his saddle since daylight. It was 
now sunrise. The men were quiet : some of them were 
writing little notes in their diaries, and replacing them 
in their pockets, thinking, perhaps, they would, before 
night, be read by other eyes than theirs. The bugles 
sound the advance ; and Gen. Corse, Gen. Morgan L. 
Smith, and Col. Smith, with their brigades, move on. 
The Fortieth Illinois, and the Twentieth and Forty-sixth 
Ohio, march down the slope, and up to within eighty 
yards of the rebel intrenchments. The fighting is veiy 
severe ; hand to hand it is maintained, now advancing, 
and now receding a little. The fire of the rebel artil- 
lery is mm-derous with grape and canister ; the blood 



Battle of Missionary Ridge. 213 

flows in torrents : our soldiers charged up to within 
pistol-shot of the rebel works; but, in the main, each 
party held its position. But Sherman's attack threat- 
ens Bragg's rear, and must be repulsed, or all is lost. 
He orders first one column and then another from his 
centre to repel Sherman ; but Sherman is not to be 
driven off, if he cannot advance against great odds. 
Still more troops move off to the left of Bragg. 

Grant saw all this with egigle eye as he watched the 
movements of the enemy. Thomas's four divisions, 
who were with him in the centre, had been impatiently 
waiting all day for orders to "go in ; " and now the 
moment had come. 

Sheridan (then fighting for the first time under 
Grant's eye), Johnson, Baird, and Wood were ordered 
to advance to the enemy's rifle-pits, clear them, then 
re-form, and ascend the ridge. It was about nine hun- 
dred yards to the rebel rifle-pits ; and there was not 
an inch of the ground that was not swept by the artil- 
lery from the ridge. 

But the men moved steadily without firing a gun, 
then dashed on at the double-quick ; and the rifle-pits 
were carried. Some of the rebels threw themselves 
down and surrendered as the line approached ; others 
fled up the hill. Sheridan said he "happened to be in 
advance ; " and, as he looked back at the twenty thou- 
sand gleaming bayonets, he was impressed by the sight 
of their terrible power. The rebels could not resist 
the effect on their imagination ; and many surrendered 
at once. A thousand prisoners were captured, and 
hurried to the rear. The men could not now be 
halted to re-form as had been agreed ; but along the 



21J: Life op General Grant. 

whole line the loud shouts of triumph rang out, and 
on thej pressed up the hill crowned with cannon and 
crowded with rifles. The rebels loaded their guns with 
canister and grape. But our troops clung to the hill, 
sometimes lying on their faces to let the storm drive 
over them, and swarmed up the hill. The flags con- 
stantly advancing, first one and then another, up they 
went through that storm of death. 

The whole ridoje seems heaving with volcanic fires. 

" From peak to peak, the rattling crags among, 
Leaps the live thunder." 

Baird, Wood, Granger, Johnson, are everywhere 
active and cool. Color-bearers fall ; but on go the flags. 
The men press steadily through the sheet of flame. 
Bullets are as thick as snow-flakes in a winter storm. 
The rebels light fuses, and roll shells down the hill : 
they hurl rocks even, and load their gnns with handfuls 
of cartridges in their hurry. But nothing breaks the 
line of blue-coats : they sAvarm up ; the flags still ascend. 
There is a long, loud cheer from thousands of victorious 
men : the ridge is won. 

For a few minutes, the bloody struggle continues 
between the masses of infuriated troops. Artillerists 
are bayoneted at their guns, and the guns turned on the 
retreating foe. Whole regiments surrender : others 
fling themselves down the mountain-side, followed by 
clouds of rifle-bullets. The rebel centre is broken; 
the wings are doubhng up in confusion ; the victory is 
complete. It had only been a march of fifty-five min- 
utes ; but in those minutes thousands of heroic men had 
taken their last, long march to the realms of death. 



Battle of Missionary Ridge. 215 

" On Fame's eternal camping-ground 
Their silent tents are spread ; 
And Glory guards -with solemn round 
The bivouac of the dead." 

Gen. Grant, who had been nnder fire all day, was 
now recognized on the hill ; and the men greeted him 
with loud cheers wherever he moved. 

Bracrcr, powerless to resist, was retiring, probably in 
the spirit of his note to Grant, — that " prudence required 
non-combatants to leave." He was astonished. " It 
was a position," he said, " which a line of skirmishers 
ought to have maintained against any assault." 

The German soldiers engaged fought with the steadi- 
ness and courage with which their race, battlmg for 
fatherland, conquered Napoleon at Leipsic, and drove 
his victorious legions beyond the banks of the Rhme. 

Grant captured over six thousand prisoners, forty 
pieces of artillery, and seven thousand stand of arms, — 
the largest capture which had been made on any open 
field durino- the war. Our loss in killed and wounded 
was five thousand. 

At seven o'clock in the evening. Gen. Grant sent the 
following modest despatch to Washington, making no 
mention of himself in any manner : — 

Although the battle lasted from early dawn till dark this 
evening, I believe I am not premature in announcing a comjplete 
victory over Bragg. Lookout-mountain top, all the rifle-pits in 
Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge entire, have been 
carried, and are now held by us. 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

Gen. Meigs, the Quarter-Master-General of the 
United-States army, who was at Chattanooga at this 



216 Life of General Grant. 

time, and an eye-witness of the battle, wi'ote a full 
account of these military operations to Gen. Halleck, 
in which he said, " Probably not so \well-directed, so 
well-ordered a battle has taken place during the war. 
Kentucky and Tennessee are rescued ; Georgia and 
the South-east are threatened in the rear ; and another 
victory is added to the chapter of ' unconditional-sur- 
render G-rayit.'' " The victory was worthy of such 
announcement. Jefferson Davis was a very vain man ; 
and, wdien a great battle Avas about to be fought, he 
would hurry to the scene of the contest, and interfere 
with the plans of his generals. If a victory ensued, he 
claimed it as the result of his advice ; if a defeat, he 
alleged it was because he could not remain and person- 
ally direct the carrying-out of his plans. 

Only a few weeks before the great battle at Chatta- 
nooga, he stood on the lofty summit of Missionary 
Ridge, and surveyed the field of the impending contest, 
with Generals Braoo; and Pemberton. 

As he looked down on the Union camps in the 
valley, he said exultingly, " The Federals are in just 
the trap I set for them. The green fields of Tennessee 
will soon be ours." 

Gen. Pemberton, whose remembrance of Vicksburg 
was still fresh, replied, " Mr. Davis, you are command- 
er-iy-chief, and, of course, will direct as you judge best. 
I have been blamed for not attacking the enemy when 
they were drawing around me at Vicksburg ; but do 
you order an attack on these troops now, and, my life 
on it, not a single man will ever come back over 
the valley, except as a prisoner." But Davis predicted 
only conquest. The reader of sacred history will be 



Battle of Missionary Ridge. 217 

reinlndeJ of another arch-rebel, who once ascended 
" an exceeding high mountain," and promised domin- 
ion and power over broad regions he did not possess, 
and never conquered. A high rock from which the 
Confederate President addressed tlie troops has since 
been called " The Devil's Pulpit." 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE BATTLE OF RINGGOLD. 



IT was not Gen. Grant's disposition to rest satisfied 
with the first-fruits of victory ; and Sheridan was 
ordered to pursue the retreating enemy, which he did 
witli such vigor, that Bragg barely escaped capture 
with his whole staff. 

About a mile in the rear of the battle-field was a hill, 
on which the rebels planted a formidable battery, and 
endeavored to rally their broken columns ; but Sheridan 
and his men charged with the same bayonets and the 
same impetuosity which had carried them up the 
heights of Missionary Ridge. 

" It was now dark ; and, just as the head of one of 
these columns reached the summit of the hill, the moon 
rose from behind, and a medallion view of the column 
was disclosed as it crossed the disk of the moon and 
attacked the enemy. Outflanked on right and left, 
the rebels fled, leaving the coveted artillery and trains. 
Those who escaped capture were driven across Chicka- 
mauga Creek, where they burned the bridges almost 
while they passed." * 

Early the next morning, the army pushed on to 
destroy the enemy, and to relieve Burnside at Knox- 

* Badeau. 
218 



Battle of Ringgold. 219 

ville, — an object now of the first importance. Sher- 
man's force advanced toward Chickamauga, and Ilooker 
and Pahner moved toward Ringgold. Gen. Grant was 
at the front, directing the pursuing columns. At eleven 
o'clock, our advance was at Chickamauga Depot. Here 
was witnessed a scene such as is only found in war. 
The station was in flames, and the vast stores of the 
enemy had been fired. Corn, bacon, gun-carriages, 
cheeses, pork, flour, molasses, powder, sugar, broken 
muskets, and pontoon-trains, — every thing used in an 
army, — had been given up by the enemy, who had not 
time to complete their destruction. Large and valuable 
captures of stores were made by. our forces. Among 
them, one pontoon-train of fifteen boats, twenty army- 
wagons, sixty thousand rations of corn, fifty thousand 
of corn-meal, two sixty-four-pounder rifled siege-guns, 
one thousand pounds of bacon, six forges, some ord- 
nance-stores, artillery and small-arm ammunition. The 
rebel loss by fire alone amounted to fifty thousand dol- 
lars' worth of property. 

All day long, the pursuit was continued. " Tramp, 
tramp, tramp, the boys were marching ; " and every- 
where were the evidences of a defeated and routed 
army. Guns and ammunition thrown away, abandoned 
ambulances, tents, wagons, caissons, strewed along the 
road, told of the hurried flight. The rebel camps of the 
previous night were passed, the bivouac-fires still blazing. 

Just at night, a sharp engagement took place between 
the rear-guard of the enemy and the advanced guard 
of our forces, in which the enemy gave way, and our 
army bivouacked for the night. 

Ringgold, a small place of twenty-five hundred 



220 Life of General Grant. 

inliabitaiits, — tlio county-seat of Catoosa County, 
Ga., — was five miles distant. It is situated at the 
base of the White-oak-mountain ridge. In the rear 
of the town is a gap, or gorge, about a hundred yards 
wide, wath abrupt ridges on both sides rising five 
hundred feet high, and half a mile or more in length. 
Artillery planted on these ridges completely commanded 
the pass, and, manned by even a few hundi'ed men, 
could hold an army of thousands. 

The enemy seized upon the natural advantages of 
this place, and determined to make here a desperate 
stand. The forests which frinored the rid<ies were filled 
with sharpshooters and four thousand of the enemy, 
disposed in a manner to offer a most effective resistance. 

Our guns were not yet up ; but ovir men were flushed 
with victory, and impatient of delay : and, soon after 
eight o'clock, Gen. Hooker ordered an attack by Oster- 
haus, wdio led the advance, followed by Geary and 
Craft. 

The troops advanced with determined bravery ; but 
the enemy opened with musketry, and poured shot and 
shell from the ridges above them. After a time, our 
men were compelled to fall back. The enemy, sui'prised 
and delighted with their success, followed with great 
ardor. Several attempts were made to carry the posi- 
tion, but in vain. It was too strong to be carried with- 
out artillery ; but the men were ynwilling to be delayed 
even for a few hours by an enemy so recently beaten, 
and fought with reckless gallantry. The Thirteenth 
Illinois was specially distinguished for its bravery ; and 
the Seventh Ohio lost all its officers, coming out of 
action under command of a lieutenant. 



Battle of Ringgold, 221 

But our men were being slauglitereJ without gaining 
adequate advantage ; and it was decided to wait the 
arrival of the artillery, which had not been able to cross 
the w^est fork of the Chickamauga. 

About twelve o'clock, a section of howitzers was 
brought to bear on the enemy in the gap ; artillery 
were sent to the southern side of the river ; and Grant 
sent orders to Sherman to place a force on the east side 
of the ridge, and tura his position. But the artillery 
had done the work. The guns told with terrible, effect. 
Osterhaus and Geary again advanced ; and, before one 
o'clock, the rebels had taken up the line of retreat. 

They were quickly followed, and three pieces of 
artillery, and two hundred and thirty prisoners, cap- 
tured. One hundred and thirty rebels were found 
dead on the field. Our loss was sixty-five killed, and 
three hundred and seventy-seven wounded. 

The railroad at Ringgold was destroyed; mills and 
military materials of various kinds ; also a large tan- 
nery, which was not likely to escape Grant's eye. 

Hoolsier followed the enemy toward Dalton, Ga., for 
several miles, but only to find pictures of the unwritten 
miseries of war, — wounded and dying men, broken 
wagons, caissons, and corpses, lining the roads where 
the enemy marched. 

The pursuit would have been continued, but for 
Grant's solicitude, which never ceased, to relieve Burn- 
side at Knoxville. 

To Thomas he wrote, " Direct Granger to start at 
once, marching as rapidly as possible, to the relief of 
Burnside." 

A despatch to Burnside was sent in duplicate ; one 



222 Life of General Grant. 

copy to be delivered to Gen. Burnside, the other to Lc 
allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy. 

Gen. Grant became impatient with all delays; and on 
the 29th he placed the whole force moving on Knox- 
ville, under command of the most energetic of his gen- 
erals, Sherman. He wrote to him, " Push as rapidly 
as you can to the Hiswassee, and determine for yourself 
what force to take with you from that point. Granger 
has his corps with him, from wdiich you will select, in 
conjun(?tion with the forces now with you. In plain 
words, you will assume command of all the forces now 
moving up the Tennessee." 

In our next chapter, we shall see the results of this 
marcli. 



CHAPTER XXn. 

THE SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE. 

KNOXVILLE, formerly tlic capital of Tennessee, 
is beautifully situated on the Holston River, a 
hundred and eighty-five miles east of Nashville. It is 
located on high ground, commanding a fine view of the 
river and the°bluG mountains of Chilliowee, thirty miles 

distant. 

Gen. Burnside had thrown up a line of works around 
the city, from the river on the left to the river on the 
right. He had about twelve thousand six hundred 
men, and three or four thousand more loyal Tennessee- 
ans. Longstreet had with him about twenty-two thou- 
sand men of all arms. Beef, cattle, and hogs had been 
driven into the city, and slaughtered and salted. Use- 
less animals were killed, rations were reduced ; and the 
works were put in the best possible condition. Farmers, 
and Union citizens from the country, volunteered to work 
in the trenches, and did so bravely. Negroes cheerfully 
worked early and late, and many disloyal men were 
compelled to aid in protecting the city from assault. 
The farmers loaded flat-boats with grain and provisions 
of all kinds, and sent them down the river, under cover 
of the autmnn fogs, at night. Formidable ditches were 

223 



224 Life of General Grant. 

made ; abatis, and all the usual devices for withstanding 
a siege, were constructed. 

At the north-east corner of the works, on high ground 
jWest of Knoxville, was an eminence named " Fort 
Saunders." A battery crowned the summit. It was 
protected by traverses ; and every effort had been made 
to render it impregnable to assault. If carried, it per- 
mitted the destruction or capture of Knoxville. 

Both Burnside and Longstreet, who was a very able 
mihtary man, knew that really the siege of Knoxville 
was to be decided on the heights of Missionary Ridge. 
If Knoxville could not be carried at once, he would find 
himself between Burnside's intrenchments in front, and 
Grant's victorious le^rions in his rear. 

He determined to make one more fight for rebel 
dominion in Tennessee, and ordered an assault on the 
morning of the 20th of November. Late in the night 
of the 26th, the rebels advanced, and sunk rifle-pits 
along the whole line to aid the assaulting columns. Four 
brigades of picked regiments were chosen to make the 
assault : they were compelled to advance over a piece 
of ground two or three hundred yards wide. 

Sunday morning the 29th, the artillery of the enemy 
opened with a terrible cannonade upon the fort, which 
our guns received in ominous silence. It was con- 
tinued for half an hour. Every gun on the fort was 
loaded, every man at his post ; but not a gun was fired. 
At last, a solid column of rebels moved out on the open 
space, and advanced to the assault at a double-quick. 
Numbers fell over the wires which had been stretched 
across the ground : but the column pressed forward ; and, 
when near the ditch, the guns from the fort all opened, 



Siege op Knoxville. 225 

loaded with triple rounds of canister. The slaughter 
was fearful beyond description. Forces were stationed 
also on the flanks of the fort, which gave them a cross- 
fire over the same masses. 

The front ranks fell like grass before the scythe ; but 
the column pressed up, trampling over the bodies of 
their dead and dying comrades. Those who succeeded 
in crossing the ditch found themselves at the foot of the 
parapet, where hand-grenades were thrown over among 
them. Every head that appeared was instantly pierced 
by a rifle-bullet, or beaten to pieces Avith the butts of 
infantry muskets. It was a scene of carnage and blood 
beyond the power of words to describe. Five hundred 
were captured ; and a thousand rebels lay dead in front 
of the fort, who, an hour before, were glowing with 
manly life, — each one of them an American ; each 
one with some heart to love him, and sorrow for his loss ; 
but each one fighting in a war for slavery, and meet- 
ing at last a traitor's death. 

The moans of the dying, the piteous cries of the 
wounded, rose up to heaven on the still sabbath air. 

As soon as it was evident that the foe had retired from 
the assault. Gen. Burnside himself, with becoming hu- 
manity, offered a flag of truce, under which they could 
bury their dead and care for the sufferings of the 
wounded. 

" Not wholly lost, O Father ! is this evil -world of ours : 
Upward through its blood and ashes spring afresh the Eden 

flowers : 
From its smoking hell of battle, Love and Pity send their 

prayer ; 
And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our ah." 

15 



226 Life op General Grant. 

Gen. Burnside Lad lost only thirteen men. The 
works Avere admirably constructed by the engineering 
skill of Generals O. E. Babcock and O. M. Poe ; and 
the whole defence inspired by the spirit and valor of 
Lieut. Samuel Benjamin, commander of the fort, who 
was supported by the utmost coolness on the part of 
detachments of three hundred men from the Seventy- 
ninth New-York and Second Michigan Volunteers. 
These men reserved their terrible fire until the enemy 
were actually at the ditch, and then made every shot 
a messenger of death. 

Half an hour after Burnside tendered to Longstrect 
the flag of truce, the latter received a message from 
Jeiferson Davis, announcing Bragg's defeat at Mission- 
ary Ridge, and ordering him to unite with the latter. 
But Longstreet had more military skill than Davis, and 
decided to aid Bragg by continuing the siege. He 
would thus call off Grant from the pursuit of Bragg ; 
or, if Grant followed Bragg without relieving Burnside, 
he would, after a few days more, have starvation as his 
powerful ally in the siege of Knoxville. 

Longstreet now received the despatch from Grant to 
Burnside written for his perusal, and put in the way of 
the rebel scouts. From this, Longstreet learned of 
Sherman's advance ; that he was cut off from his sup- 
plies'; and, if he would escape capture, he must hurry 
toward Virginia. He accordingly raised the siege, and, 
on the night of the 4th of December, began his 
retreat. 

The next morning, Sherman sent to Burnside as 
follows : " I am here, and can bring twenty-five thou- 
sand men into Knoxville to-morrow : but, Longstreet 



Siege of Knoxville. 227 

having retreated, I feel disposed to stop ; for a stern 
chase is a long one. But I will do all that is possible. 
Without you specify that you want troops, I will let 
mine rest to-morroAv, and ride to see you." 

The next morning, Sherman rode over to Knoxville, 
and held an interview with Gen. Burnside. They 
arranged for the pursuit of Longstreet, and that Sher- 
man should return to Grant's support, lest Bragg should 
venture to attack Grant with his now-reduced force. 

On the Gth, Gen. Halleck, in a report to the Secre- 
tary of War, said, " Considering the strength of the 
rebel posftion, and the difficulty of storming his in- 
trenchments, the battle of Chattanooga must be consid- 
ered the most remarkable in history." 

On the 10th of December, Gen. Grant issued the 
following eloquent order to his victorious soldiers : — 

" The general commanding takes tlio opportunity of returning 
his sincere thanks and congratulations to the brave armies of the 
Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Tennessee, and their comrades 
from the Potomac, for the recent splendid and decisive successes 
achieved over the enemy. In a short time, you have recovered 
from him the control of the Tennessee River from Bridgeport to 
Knoxville. You dislodged hnn from liis great stronghold upon 
Lookout Mountain ; drove him from Chattanooga 'V'alley ; wrested 
from his determined grasp the possession of Missionary Ridge ; 
repelled, with heavy loss to him, his repeated assaults tqxjii 
Knoxville ; forced him to raise the siege there ; driving him at all 
points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the limits of the 
State. 

" By your noble heroism and determined courage, you have 
most effectually defeated the plans of the enemy for regaining 
possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have 
secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or 
dislodge you. For all this, the general commanding thanks you 



228 Life op General Grant. 

collectively and individually. The loyal people of the United 
States thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers against this 
unholy Rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you Avill not 
be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers to 
Almighty God will be answered. You will yet go to other fields 
of strife ; and, with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty 
to justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you 
will prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defences, 
however formidable, can check your onward march." 

The battle of Chattanooga will ever be regarded as 
one of the most romantic and interesting in the annals 
of war. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN. 

THE campaign was indeed extraordinary. The war 
in the South-west was substantially closed. The 
opening of the Mississippi had severed the Confederacy, 
and separated its armies from their great supplies of cat- 
tle in Texas ; and they were now shut out fi'om the rich 
granaries of Tennessee and Kentucky. With the excep- 
tion of Virginia, the Rebellion was dethroned when its 
proud army Avas hurled from the summit of Missionary 
Ridge. There was historic grace and fitness, therefore, 
that, in the closing drama, the men of the Valley of the 
Mississippi, of the North-west, and the descendants of 
those who conquered at Bunker Hill and Saratoga, 
should unite in achieving this transcendent victory. 
Their blood, mingling there in a common libation, gave 
hope that the Union would be immortal. 

The national standard flying from the peak on Lookout 
Mountain signalled Sherman's great march to the sea. 

Upon the assembling of Congress on the 8th of De- 
cember, on motion of Hon. Mr. Washburne, the thanks 
of Congress, and a gold medal, were voted to Gen. 
Grant. The medal was ordered to be "presented to 
him in the name of the people of the United States of 
America." 

229 



230 Life op General Grant. 

The Legislatures of Ohio, New York, and other States, 
passed votes of thanks for his pubHc services. Various 
re]ia;ious bodies of high character, among them the 
Methodist Missionary Society of the Cincinnati Con- 
ference, elected him to honorary membership. 

While these honors were being showered by his 
grateful countrymen on Gen. Grant, he was busily 
occupied in visiting the outposts of his army, prepar- 
ing reports, and submitting plans to the government for 
future operations. He visited Nashville and Knoxville, 
crossing the country by the Cumberland Gap on horse- 
back, that he might see the country for himself, and 
examine the routes for supplying his army. The snow 
was deeper than had been known for thirty years; and 
tlie party often waded through deep drifts, driving their 
half-frozen horses before them. He could have gone by a 
shorter and easier route ; but such was the temperament 
of the man, that no route seemed to him long or difficult 
which o;ave him the most valuable information in re^'ard 
to his army and his duties. 

Wherever he went, crowds thronged to greet him ; 
but everywhere he seemed unconscious of his great 
achievements. His manners w^ere simple and natural. 
Various efforts were made to induce him to make 
speeches, but never with success. At Lexington, 
Gen'. Leslie Coombs said to the crowd, " Gen. Grant 
has told me in confidence that he never made a speech, 
knows nothing about speech-making, and has no dispo- 
sition to learn." 

It was on his return from this tour, that Gen. Grant, 
in one of his communications to the War Department, 
foreshadowed the march of Sherman through the South. 
He said, — 



Results of the Campaign. 231 

"I look upon the next line for me to secure to be that from 
Chattanooga to Mobile; Montgomery and Atlanta boinp; the iin- 
2)ort;int intermediate points. To do this, large supplies must be 
secured on the Tennessee River, so as to he independent of the 
railroad from here {Nashville) to the Tennessee for a considefaUe 
length of time. Mobile would be a second base. The destruction 
Avhich Sherman will do to the roads around ]\Ieridian will be of 
material importance to us in preventing the enemy fi'om drawing 
supplies from Mississippi, and in clearing that section of all large 
bodies of rebel troops. ... I do not look upon any points, except 
Mobile in the south, and the Tennessee River in the north, as 
presenting practicable starting-points from which to operate 
against Atlanta and Montgomery." 

On the 24tli of January, Gen. Grant was informed 
by telegraph that his oldest son, who had accompanied 
him through his Vicksburg campaign, was lying danger- 
ously sick at St. Louis; and he obtained leave to visit 
him for a few days. 

He arrived unheralded, unannounced ; and the first 
intimation the citizens of St. Louis had that the hero 
of Vicksburg and Chattanooga was among them was 
on seeing; on the hotel-register the name of " U. S. 
Grant, Chattanooga." 

Men show their characters in small matters. The 
citizens would have been glad to escort him into the city 
Avith a cavalcade, under waving flags, beneath smiling 
balconies, and through applauding thousands ; but he 
had given no opportunity for display. 

He was at once invited to a public dinner. 

The banquet was sumptuous and elegant in all re- 
spects. At the toast, " Our disinterested guest, Major- 
Gen. Grant," the band struck up, " Hail to the Chief." 

Gen. Grant rose, and said, " Gentlemen, in response, 
it will be impossible to do more than thank you." 



232 Life of General Grant. 

Durino- the evening, he was serenaded ; and the 
liotel was surrounded by thousands anxious to see 
liim, and shouting, " Speech, speech ! " Gen. Grant 
stepped out upon the balcou}', and was welcomed by 
the most flattering cheers. He instantly removed 
his hat, bowed, and, amid profound silence, said, 
" Gentlemen, I thank you for this honor. I cannot 
make a speech ; it is something I have never done, 
and never intend to do : and I beg you will excuse me." 

But the crowd were not so easily satisfied, and contin- 
ued shouting loudly, " Speech, speech ! " 

Several gentlemen urged him to address the people ; 
but he declined. At last, one said, " General, tell them 
you can fight for them, but cannot talk to them : do 
tell them that." 

But Grant could not glorify himself; and he imme- 
diately answered, " Some one else must say that if it is 
to be said." 

But the multitude thinking he only needed urging, 
and continuing their shouts, he leaned over the balcony, 
and said deliberately, " Gentlemen, making speeches is 
not my business. I never did it in my life, and never 
will. I thank you, however, for your attendance 
here." 

He then bowed and retired. 

While in the city, he visited the university, and was 
also invited to attend a meeting in aid of the Sanitary 
Commission. He took the occasion to express his 
grateful appreciation of the great and beneficent work 
done by the commission for the soldiers in an eloquent 
letter. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

APPOINTED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. 

a EN. GRANT had rendered a great service to the 
country m the victories he had achieved. He had 
captured ninety thousand prisoners, four hundred and 
seventy-two cannon, and small-arms unnumbered. But 
he had also done a great service in demonstrating what 
could be done in a department embracing ten States, 
by uniting its military power under one head. What the 
will of one man had accomplished west of the Allegha- 
nies, showed what unity of plan, and concentration of 
action, could accomplish throughout the country. The 
war was taxing the resources and patience of the people 
as it continued year after year. A victory in one sec- 
tion was offset by a defeat in another. 

While these views were generally entertained, Hon. 
Mr. Washburne of Illinois introduced into Congress a 
bill to revive the grade of Lieutenant-General. But two 
men had ever held this position. In 1798, the country 
was apprehensive of a war with France, then passing 
through its great revolution ; and President John Adams 
appointed George Washington " Lieutenant-General of 
the armies of the United States." In 1855, the office 
was conferred by brevet upon Major-Gen. Winfield 
Scott. 

233 



234 Life of General Grant. 

The Lill vras passed on the 26th of February, 1864. 
On the 2d of March, President Lincohi nominated Gen. 
Grant as Lieutenant-General, and he was confirmed the 
following day by the Senate. By the bill, lie was " au- 
thorized, under the direction of the President, to com- 
mand the armies of the United States." 

The same dav, he was ordered to Washington, and 
started the next morning, March 4. 

At this time. Gen. Sherman was at Memphis. 
Grant's intention was to return, and accompany the 
army through the heart of the rebel States on its march 
to the sea. Before leaving, Gen. Grant wrote the fol- 
lowing letter to Gen. Sherman, honorable alike to 
the writer and to the friend to whom it was addressed. 
No biography of these distinguished men, and no his- 
tory of our war, is complete without them. 

Dear Sherman, — The bill reviving the grade of Lieutenant- 
General has become a law ; and my name has been sent to the Senate 
for the place. I now receive orders to report to Washington imme- 
diately in person ; which indicates a confirmation, or a likelihood of 
confirmation. I start in the morning to comply with the order. 

^Miilst I have been eminently successful in this war, in at least 
gaining the confidence of the public, no one feels more than I how 
much of this success is due to the energy, skill, and the harmonious 
putting-forth of that energy and skill, of those whom it has been 
my good fortune to have occupying subordinate positions under me. 

There are many officers to whom these remarks are apphcable 
to a greater or less degree, proportionate to their ability as soldiers ; 
but what I want is to express my thanks to you and McPherson, 
as the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted for whatever 
I have had of success. 

How far your advice and assistance have been of help to me, 
you know. How far your execution of whatever has been given 
you to do entitles you to the reward I am receiving, you cannot 
know as well as I. 



Appointed Lieutenant-General. 235 

I feel all tlie gratitude tliis letter would express, giving it the 
most flattering construction. The word you I use in the plural, 
intending it for McPherson also. I would write to him, and wUl 
some day ; but, starting in the morning, I do not know that I shall 
find time just nov/. Your fi-iend, 

U. S. Grant. 

The following is Gen. Sherman's reply : — 

Dear Gexeral, — I have your more than kind and charac- 
teristic letter of the 4th instant. I will send a cojjy to Gen. 
McPherson at once. 

You do yourself injustice, and us too much honor, in assign- 
ing to us too large a share of the merits which have led to your 
high advancement. I know you approve the friendship I have 
ever proffered to you, and will jDermit me to continue, as hereto- 
fore, to manifest it on aU proper occasions. 

You are now Washington's legitimate successor, and occupy a 
position of almost dangerous elevation ; but if you can continue, 
as heretofore, to be yourself, — smiple, honest, and unpretend- 
ing, — you will enjoy through life the resj^ect and love of Iriends, 
and the homage of millions of human beings, who will award you 
a large share in seeming to them and theu' descendants a gov- 
ernment of law and stability. 

I repeat, you do Gen. McPherson and myself too much honor. 
At Belmont, you manifested your traits ; neither of us being near. 
At Donelson, also, you illustrated your whole character. I was 
not near, and Gen. McPherson was in too subordinate a capacity 
to influence you. 

Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was almost cowed by 
the terrible array of anarchical elements that presented them- 
selves at every point; but that admitted a ray of light I have 
followed since. I believe you are as brave, patriotic, and just as 
the great protot}'pe, Washington ; as unselfish, kind-he;ixted, and 
honest as a man should be : but the chief characteristic is the 
simple faith in success you have always manifested, which I can 
liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in the Saviour. 

This faith gave you the victory at Shiloh and at Vicksburg. 
Also, when you have completed your best preparations, you go 



236 Life op General Grant. 

into battle without hesitation, as at Chattanooga, — no doubts, 
no reserves ; and I tell }'ou it was this which made us act with 
confidence. 

My only point of doubt was in your knowledge of grand strategy, 
and of books of science and of history ; but I confess, your com- 
mon sense seems to have supplied all these. 

Now, as to the future. Don't stay in Washington. Come 
West. Take to yourself the whole Mississippi Yalle}-. Let us 
make it dead sure ; and I tell you the Atlantic slopes and Pacific 
shores will follow its destiny as surely as the limbs of a tree live 
or die with the main trunk. We have done much ; but still much 
remains. Time and time's influence are with us. We could 
almost afford to sit still, and let these influences work. 

Here hes the scat of the coming empire ; and from the West, 
when our task is done, we will make short work of Charleston and 
Richmond and the impoverished coast of the Atlantic. 
Your sincere friend, 

W. T. Sherman. 

The appointment of Gen. Grant touched tlie heart 
of the wliole nation ; and, ahhough he travelled rapidly, 
•wherever the people heard of his coming they thronged 
to the railway stations, and ratified and indorsed the ac- 
tion of the government by cordial greetings and tumul- 
tuous cheers. 

On arrivino; at Wasliino;ton, he went to Willard's Ho- 
tel, and soon after walked quietly into the dining-room 
with his son, without escort or staff, wearing a blue coat 
which had evidently seen service. He had been there 
some time unnoticed, when he was recognized by a gen- 
tlemen who had seen him in New Orleans. He an- 
nounced that Lieut.-Gen. Grant was present ; and the 
whole company, ladies and gentlemen, at once rose to 
their feet, and greeted him with welcoming applause. 
The homage was spontaneous and hearty. 



Appointed Lieutenant-General. £37 

In the evening, lie attended the usual levee of tlie 
President. lie walked into the reception-room unan- 
nounced, but was immediately recognized and cordially 
received by Mr. Lincoln. The east room adjoining 
Avas, as usual on such occasions, crowded with members 
of Congress and their families, officers of the army and 
navy, and distinguished strangers in Washington. 

As soon as Gen. Grant entered, and his presence 
became known, the enthusiasm was very great. The 
company crowded around him ; and he was finally com- 
pelled to mount a sofa, where he was saluted with 
cheer upon cheer. But it was apparent that it was not 
wholly pleasant to the general to be the object of such 
marked attention. He afterwards escorted Mrs. Lin- 
coln throuirh the rooms, and retired. He remarked to 
a friend before leaving, " This is the ivarmest campaign 
I have had during the war. I must get away from 
Washington soon. I do not fancy this show-business." 

At one o'clock the next day. Gen. Grant was for- 
mally received by the President in the Executive 
Chamber, and presented with his commission as Lieu- 
tenant-General. There were present all the members 
of the cabinet. Gen. Halleck, one or two other gentle- 
men, and Gen. Grant's son. 

President Lincoln rose from his chair, and said, — 

" General Grant, — The nation's approbation of what you 
have already done, and its reliance on you lor what remains to do, 
in the existing great struggle, is now presented, with this connnis- 
sion constituting you LieiUenant-General of the Army of the United 
States. With this high honor devolves on you a corresponding 
responsibility. As the country here intrusts you, so, under God, 
it will sustain you. I scarcely need add, that with what I here 
speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal concurrence." 



238 Life of Geneeal Geant. 

Gen. Grant, receiving the commission, replied, — 

" Mr. Presidext, — I accept this commission witli gratitude 
for the high lienor conferred. With the aid of the noble ai-mies 
Avho have fought on so many fields for our common country, it 
will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. 
I feel t6e full weight of the responsibility now devolving upon me. 
I know, that, if it is properly met, it wUl be due to these armius, 
and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both 
nations and men." 

Gen. Grant was then presented to the members of 
the cabinet. That evening he had a long consuUation 
with Gen. Halleck on mihtary affairs, and the next 
morning, in company with Gen. Meade, visited the 
Army of the Potomac. It was evident to all, that the 
new Lieutenant-General was not disposed to spend much 
time over ceremonials at Washino-ton. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. — THE ADVANCE. 

THE weeks of IMarcli and April were passed in re- 
organizing tlie army and preparing for the spring 
campaign. Gen. Halleck was made chief of staff, and 
stationed at Washington. Gen. Sherman was put in 
command of the West. Gen. Meade remained in 
immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, 
Avith whom Gen. Grant estabhshed his headquarters in 
the fiekl. 

The number of the army corps was reduced to three ; 
and Major-Generals Hancock, Warren, and Sedgwick 
were in command. The cavalry, with ten thousand 
sabres, was under the command of Gen. Sheridan. 
Gen. Banks was to open a campaign in Louisiana ; 
Gen. Sherman was to commence operations in Northern 
Georgia ; while Gen. Steele was to move against Ster- 
ling Price in Arkansas, and Gen. Butler was to 
threaten Richmond from Bermuda Hundred. Thus 
it will be perceived that Gen. Grant's combinations 
covered a theatre of war whose magnitude has been 
seldom equalled. But he addressed himself to the 
vast undertaking with his wonted energy, calmness, 
and perseverance. " Success was a duty." 

The topography of Virginia was remarkable. The 

239 



240 Life op General Grant. 

wliole State was little less than a vast fortress for the 
rebels, manned by the most splendid of the Southern 
armies, and commanded by the ablest of the rebel 
generals. 

Its bastions were mountains, its trenches were 
valleys, its moats were rivers, its embrasures were 
mountain-gorges. Its natural features offered in every 
direction the most formidable obstacles to our advance, 
and, at the same time, were easily defended. 

Richmond was one hundred and seventeen miles 
from Washington on the James River, and ordinarily 
contained a population of sixty thousand. Beauregard 
and the engineers of the rebel army had exhausted their 
skill and resources upon its fortifications, until it had 
become one of the strongest citadels in the world. 
Culpeper Court House, ten miles north of the Rapidan 
and seventy-five miles south of Washington, was the 
headquarters of Gen. Grant. Lee with his veterans 
was at Orange Court House, ten miles south of the 
Rapidan. The two armies were twenty miles distant 
from each other. 

Grant now issued the death-warrant of the Rebellion 
in giving orders for a general advance of the army. 




o 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

CAMPAIGN IN THE WILDERNESS. 

ON the afternoon of the 3d of May, 1864, the tents 
of the Union army were struck ; and that night, 
beneath the starhght, troops began crossing the Rapidan 
at Germania and Ely's Fords. The crossing was con- 
tinued during the next day. The force numbered a 
hundred thousand men. The day was warm, the sun 
was bright ; and as cohimn after column wound its way 
down the river's bank, over the bridges, and spread out 
in marching order on the opposite side, banners and 
bayonets disappearing in the distance, the scene, both 
as a picture and for its moral associations, was deeply 
impressive. Grant said, " This is a Avonderfully-fine 
appearing army ; but it has seemed to me it never 
fought its battles through.'''' 

They marched tOAvard the Wilderness. This is a 
wild, desolate tract of country in Spottsylvania County, 
about five miles wide, and twelve miles long. It is an 
immense jungle. The wood has been burned off for 
miners : its surface is uneven, and covered with stumps, 
bushes, and an undergrowth of pines and scrub-oaks. 
Artillery and cavalry are at a great disadvantage in 
such a labyrinth. Fires were seen blazing on the hill- 
tops to signal our advance to Gen. Lee. 

16 241 



242 Life of General Grant. 

Unlike most generals in both armies, Lee did not 
generally approve of fighting an army at a river's bank 
to prevent its crossing, but preferred to allow it to cross 
in almost all cases. Lee determined to attack Grant in 
the Wilderness, where lie and his men were perfectly 
familiar, and, if possible, destroy his army in the opening 
of the campaign. He had seen six generals start for 
Richmond ; but he was now to meet the man who was 
to go there. 

Gen. Warren was with the advance, and had his 
headquarters at the house of a Major Lacy, where 
Stonewall Jackson lay after being shot at Chancellors- 
ville. It was on a little eminence west of the old Wil- 
derness Tavern, on the Orange Turnpike ; and here 
Grant took his station. Warren's corps was attacked 
about noon on Thursday, May 5. Beginning with 
picket-firing and skirmishing, by twelve o'clock the 
battle was fully opened. 

Lee, with his hosts concealed in the forests, could 
mass his troops, and hurl them on any point of the 
Union line wliich he chose to attack. The enemy came 
on, confident of victory, and fought with the most deter- 
mined bravery. Our men, largely outnumbered at 
this point, slowly fell back, until early in the after- 
noon they were re-enforced, rallied, and drove the 
enemy with terrible slaughter. Hour after hour, the 
bloody conflict raged. The bodies of tliousands were 
borne to the rear in every form of mutilation. Bright 
eyes that welcomed the morning's sun with hope and 
gladness were closed forever. Toward night, the 
rebels had been repulsed so generally, that Grant or- 
dered an advance along our whole line ; but darkness 



Campaign in the Wilderness. 243 

settled down over the scene before the final arrange- 
ments were completed. The hospitals were crowded, 
and surgeons and attendants were at work all niglit. 
Parties were engaged burying the dead ; while, at head- 
quarters, Grant and his generals were occupied in pre- 
paring for a renewal of the battle at daylight. " Attack 
along the whole line at five in the morning " was 
Grant's order. 

The enemy were also making similar preparations ; 
and, at a quarter before five o'clock in the morning of 
Friday, a furious onset was made upon Gen. Sedgwick's 
corps. 

But Gen. Lee was now dealing with a man who was 
not to be " bluffed " or disconcerted. Grant's prepara- 
tions were neither hurried, delayed, nor changed by 
Gen. Lee. He began his movements at five o'clock 
precisely as he had ordered. The line of battle was 
now some five miles in length, running north and south. 
The attack on Sedgwick was a feint. The real attack 
was to be made on Hancock's corps, on our left, by 
Longstreet and his veterans. Hancock advanced on 
both sides of the Orange Plank-road, the troops fight- 
ing with unsurpassed bravery. The contest was des- 
perate ; for the rebels fought with reckless heroism : but 
nothing could resist the valor of our soldiers ; and they 
steadily drove the enemy m confusion nearly two miles, 
killing, wounding, and taking prisoners. Some of the 
terrified enemy fled even to the headquarters of Gen. 
Lee. 

But the victorious advance disordered our men ; and 
the movement through the woods had disan-anged their 
formation. 



244 Life of General Grant. 

When once the hne is badly broken, soldiers begin 
to feel as if each man is fighting by himself, or in a 
crowd or mob : the sensation of being part of an army, 
and that fifty thousand men are striking with him, is 
lost. The line was re-formed, and again advanced ; but 
the enemy were now greatly strengthened. Gen. Lee, 
to re-assure his soldiers and excite them to the utmost, 
rode to the front of a brigade of Texans, where he was 
instantly recognized, and, seizing a flag, ordered them to 
follow him in a charge. But the men, like the rank 
and file of every army who have a brave commander, 
loved their chief, and did not move. A bronzed veteran 
in the ranks, with a clarion voice, shouted that they 
would not stir till he had gone to his place in the rear : 
the shout was re-echoed by the whole brigade, until he 
w^as forced to retire. 

But the rebel line was now so strong, that it was 
impossible to break it. A few hours after, the enemy 
themselves attacked, and flung their columns upon our 
lines with such terrific power, now here and now there, 
that our line was pressed back some distance. Gen. 
Wadsworth of New York, seeking to stem the tide, 
was shot through the head. 

Again our troops rallied, and amid fearful carnage 
forced the enemy back with heavy loss, and took up 
their former position. 

Nio-ht asain closed over the bloodv field. Neither 
party had won a decided triumph. Some of the soldiers 
thought the army would retreat the next day across 
the Rapidan, and call for re-enforcements ; but Grant 
had come out to fight, and took no step backward. 
He was at headquarters, quiet and determined, issuing 



Campaign in the Wilderness. 245 

his orders. He claimed no victory, smoked constantly, 
and remarked, " I have noticed that these Southerners 
fight desperately at first ; yet, ivJien ive hang on for a 
day or two, we ivliip them airfuU?/.^^ 

Thousands more had been wounded, and thousands 
slain. The dead were to be buried. 

In narrating the history of battles, it is impossible not 
to mention prominently the names of leachng generals ; 
but it can never be done without deep emotion at 
thought of the private soldiers, the unnamed heroes, 
who went down unheralded to death, each of them 
with a life precious to him and to those who loved him. 
Sorrow was flying that night to thousands of afflicted 
homes, which its shadow would darken for years; and 
these brave men were to find their graves, not beneath 
sculptui-ed marble, not among kindred where flowers 
would bloom over their dust, but in this dreary region 
of darkness and gloom. 

But the spirit of the private soldiers of the Union 
armies inspired the war, and achieved its victories. A 
regenerated nation is their mausoleum. Wherever 
they lie, whether in the sohtude of the wilderness, in 
the lonely mountain-pass, or beneath the beautiful 
magnoha's blossoms, the place of their last repose will 
be hallowed till the end of time. 

Saturday morning came ; but it was apparent that 
the unparalleled exertions of the previous days had told 
upon the powers of the men in both armies. There 
was skirmishing : some guns on our right opened ; but 
there was no reply. Each Avas willing to be attacked, 
but disinclined to attack. Gen. Grant did not assault, 
because he had not intended to fight in the Wilderness : 



246 Life of General Grant. 

he was merely passing through it. It was Gen. Lee 
who had required that it should be made a battle-field ; 
and it was Gen. Lee who was now leaving it. At 
noon, it was found he was in full retreat to Spottsyl- 
vania Court House. Pursuit was immediately begun, 
which soon changed into a race, as both parties desired 
to secure the high ground around Spottsylvania Court 
House, fifteen miles distant. Gen. Grant rode forward 
to the advance ; and, as he passed with his staff by the 
side of the troops, he was greeted by the soldiers with 
the wildest enthusiasm. 

But the enemy had the start, and were in position 
when our forces arrived on Sunday morning. 

Part of the day was occupied in examining the 
position which the enemy held, putting the divisions 
of the army in proper place as they arrived, and 
locating batteries. On Monday, while directing some 
of his artillery-men, Gen. Sedgwick noticed them 
watchino- with a little uneasiness the bullets of the 
sharpshooters, and said in a joking way, " Oh ! they 
couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." He had 
hardly uttered the words, when a Minie-ball tore 
through his brain, and he fell dead into the arms of 
one of his aides, — another costly sacrifice in the cause 
of the Union. A brave man, and a splendid ofiicer, he 
gave his life freely to his country in the day of its 
peril. 

During Monday and Tuesday, the tide of battle 
surged like the ocean, — now advancing, now receding. 
The scenes were similar to those frequently described 
in preceding pages. Assaults on the enemy's intrench- 
ments were made with unsurpassed heroism, and met 



I 



Campaign in the Wilderness. 247 

by the most stubborn courage. The battle raged with 
unabated fury. The roar of artillery, the sharp rat- 
tle of musketry, the shrieking of bursting shells, were 
mino-led with the groans of the w^ounded. The dying and 
dead covered the field by thousands. During the after- 
noon of Tuesday, a dash was made from our left by 
Gen. Wright's division, capturing nine hundred prison- 
ers and several guns. 

Later in the afternoon. Gen. Lee massed his troops 
in front of ovir centre, with the intention of hurling 
tlieni with overwhelming strength upon that part of our 
line. To disguise his purpose, he sent two brigades to 
attack our right : but Grant had too recently employed 
the same tactics against Bragg at Chattanooga to be 
deceived by Lee ; and, by a singular coincidence, he was 
at the same time strengthening his own centre, prepar- 
atory to attacking Lee. Both generals had determined 
to assault each other on the same ])lan at the same time. 
The result was a desperate attempt on either side to 
break the line of the other. 

On Wednesday, the battle was renewed ; and Gen. 
Grant sent to Washington his well-known despatch : — 

" We have now ended the sixth day of verj- heavy fighting. 
Tlie result to this time is much in our favor. Our losses have 
been heavy as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the 
enemy must be greater. We have taken over five thousand prison- 
ers by battle, whilst he has taken from us but few except strag- 
glers. I propose to fght it out on this line if it takes all summer." 

Grant determined to attack the enemy's right centre ; 
and during the night, under co\'er of a fog, a portion of 
the troops under Hancock, Barlow, and Gibbon, were 
advanced to within twelve hundred yards of the position 
they were to storm. , 



248 Life of General Grant. 

At half-past four o'clock, Thursday morning, they ad- 
vanced at the double-quick, and, with cheers which 
echoed to the skies, rushed over the enemy's works, and 
engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with bayonets and 
clubbed muskets with the astonished foe. The fight 
was short, but sharp, and ended in the capture of thirty 
guns, twenty colors, and over three thousand prisoners, 
amono; them Generals Johnson and Stewart. Lee him- 
self also narrowly escaped capture, although this was not 
known at the time. 

The position won by our men was hotly contested, 
throughout the day. Lee seemed determined to retake it 
at any sacrifice of the life of his men. Five times the most 
savage assaults were made by the rebels, and five times 
they were repulsed with fearful slaughter. At times, the 
rival flags would be seen for a few moments on opposite 
sides of the same breastworks. The fighting was as 
fierce and deadly as any that occurred during the 
whole war. The carnage on both sides was fi'ightful.* 

During the day, an incident occurred show^ing Gen. 
Grant's coolness, and readiness to apply the results of 
his military training. A shell fell near where Gen. 
Grant and some of his officers were standing ; and, while 
the latter were stepping out of the way, Grant- drew a 
small compass from his pocket, examined tlie course of 
the shell, ascertained the location of the battery, and. 
at once gave orders for a few of our guns to reply in a 

* " In the vicious phraseology commonly employed by those who under- 
take to describe military operations, and especially by those who never wit- 
nessed a battle-field, ' piles of dead ' figure much more frequently than they 
exist in reality. The phrase is here no figure of speech, as can be attested 
by thousands who witnessed the ghastly scene." — Campaigns of the Army 
of tht Potomac. 



Campaign in the Wilderness. 249 

direction which soon rained a shower of shells upon the 
annoying rebel battery. 

Brig.-Gen. Rice of Michigan was among those 
mortally wounded. " Turn me," said he a few 
moments before he expired, — " turn me, that I may die 
with my lace to the enemy ! " After his wish had been 
complied with, he said, " Tell my wife and children I 
died for my country." — " How does the great Captain 
of salvation appear to you now ? " said the chaplain. 

" Oh ! Jesus is near and very dear," said the dying 
man, and soon after ceased to breathe. And thus 
another of the army of Christian heroes went up from 
the ensanguined fields of our war for freedom. 

Hour after hour, the bloody havoc went on, until 
twenty thousand more precious lives were added to the 
costly sacrifice which slavery demanded with insatiable 
cruelty and voracity. 

The army surgeons, the chaplains, the agents and 
nurses of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, 
followed the reaper Death as he gathered his harvests 
of woe, binding up the wounds of the suifering, and 
ministering consolation to the dying. 

" In dust the vanquished and the victor lie : 
AVith copious slaughter all the fields are red, 
And heaped with growing mountains of the dead. 
So fought each host, with thirst of glory fired ; 
And crowds on crowds triumphantly expired." * 

* Pope's Homer, 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR. 



AN order was read to the army, announcing the 
victorious march of Sherman, through Georgia, 
to the sea. The cheers with which it was received 
rano- out above the din of battle, and were heard all 
along the rebel lines. 

May 9, Sheridan had been sent, with Merritt, Custer, 
and a force of cavalry, on a raid to Ilichmond. At 
Beaver Dam, on the Virginia Central Railroad, they 
destroyed the station, ten miles of track, three trains 
of cars, a million and a half of rations, and liberated 
four hundred Union soldiers taken in the Wilderness, 
and then on the way to Libby Prison. At Yellow 
Tavern, a few miles north of Richmond, they had a 
battle with the rebel cavalry under Gen. Stuart, who 
was mortally wounded. Sheridan now dashed down 
the road to Richmond ; and Custer carried the outer 
defences, capturing one hundred prisoners. But Rich- 
mond could not be taken by cavalry. He rejoined the 
army on the 25th of May. 

The army mana?uvred for several days with a view 
to find a vulnerable point of attack in Lee's intrench- 
ments, and finally, on the 20th, began a flank-march 
to turn the enemy's position, and compel him to leave 



250 



Battle op Cold Harbor. 251 

his intrenchments. It is one of the most difficult 
operations in war, and especially so in the presence of 
an able tactician like Gen. Lee ; yet it was executed 
with complete success. But at midnight the rebels, 
under Longstreet, started south in the hope of inter- 
posing again between Gen. Grant and Richmond. 

The two armies were again on a race, this time for 
the banks of the North Anna River ; but, as Lee 
already held the shortest road, there was every chance 
that he would make the quickest journey. 

The march was through a portion of the State which 
showed the great fertility of soil and the immense 
natural resources of Virginia. The weather was per- 
fect, and scattered along the route were the stately 
mansions and broad acres of the Virginia gentlemen 
of the olden time. The region had not been swept by 
the tornado of war, and offered a beautiful picture of 
the Old Dominion in the days when McDowell, and 
Tom Marshall, and T. J. Randolph, had denounced 
slavery as " a curse," " a cancer," and predicted ruin 
and desolation for their native State unless she entered 
on a pohcy of emancipation. Their prediction was 
fulfilled. 

On Monday, the 23d of May, the army had reached 
the north bank of the North Anna ; but the col- 
umns of the enemy were already on the opposite 
side. On the 2-ith, our army crossed in full force ; 
but, after carefully examining the rebel intr^ichments, 
Gen. Grant became satisfied that they could not be 
carried by storm without a loss of life which he would 
not incur. 

On the night of the 26th, with great skill, and un- 



252 Life of General Grant, 

known to the enemy, Gen. Grant again crossed the 
river, and marched south toward the Pamunkey River 
and the city of Richmond. Not a shot had been fired, 
nor any sound made to disturb the rebel pickets. 
When dayhght came. Gen. Lee discovered that the 
Union army was ah'eady on its way to Richmond. 

On the 27th, our army reached the Pamunkey at Han- 
overtown. Thus, with masterly ability, Grant had com- 
pelled Lee to leave his intrenchments. He had placed 
himself within fifteen miles of Richmond, and estab- 
lished a new and convenient base for supplies for his 
army by the York River and Chesapeake Bay, and 
opened communication with the columns of Gen. But- 
ler on the James River. 

He held command of the peninsula without having 
exposed Washington, or allowing Lee to keep a quarter of 
our army marching back and forth to protect that city. 

The places in the vicinity were familiar to the old 
Army of the Potomac who had served under Gen. 
McClellan. The slimy swamps of the Chickahominy, 
Avhere so many thousands had been sacrificed ; Fair 
Oaks, from which Gen. Hooker had trotted down to 
within four miles of Richmond unopposed, until ordered 
back ; Mechanicsville, which, after a victorious and 
bloody repulse of Lee's army, had been suddenly evac- 
uated by our perplexed and doubting commander ; 
Gaines's Mill, where one wing of the army had driven 
back the uebel hosts, while sixty thousand Union sol- 
diers stood idle near at hand because their general 
could not decide whether to unite or divide his forces, — 
these spots were all within a short distance, and the 
thunder of our cannon could be distinctly heard at 
Richmond. 



Battle of Cold Harbor. 253 

Gen. Grant had not yet taken Richmond ; but he was 
fightmg the rebel army. He was appalled by no visions 
of a rebel force two hundred thousand strong, which 
demanded daily re-enforcements from Washington at 
every halt ; and he never, in a single instance, tele- 
graphed to President Lincoln as another had done, 
" If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I 
owe no thanks to you or to any jjersons in Washington : 
you have done your best to sacrifice this army.'' * 

Gen. Grant determined to force a passage across the 
Chickahominy. But a direct assault on the enemy's 
formidable works would lead to fearful loss of life ; and 
he therefore determined to extend toward the left, and 
cross the river below at Cold Harbor. The place had 
no harbor, but was a small inland town at the junc- 
tion of several roads, and of great importance to the 
enemy. Lee had been re-enforced by the garrison at 
Richmond, and was prepared to offer the most desperate 

* A governor of one of the New-England States stated in the hearing of 
the writer, that, soon after Pope's defeat at Bull Run, he, with a few others, 
was conversing with President Lincoln concerning tlie prospects of the war, 
and remarked that " the people of his State were willing to do every thing 
. possible to benefit the government: but they were not willing to bury their 
sons and brothers in the swamps of the Chickahominy to no purpose." 
One gentleman present intimated that Gen. McClellan could not be sincere 
in his determination to conquer, and must be disloyal. Sir. Lincoln said, 
"No: I have watched McClellan very carefully. I do not think he is dis- 
loyal; but he is constitutionally an over-cautious man. This and his inde- 
cision prevent all permanent success. For instance, the rebels lately, in 
moving into Mandand, advanced rapidly. Gen. McClellan was urged to do 
the same: but no; he insisted upon moving his whole anny, day by day, in 
complete battle-array, ready to resist attack at any moment. Nothing we 
could say would induce him to value time and move with speed. He was 
a week or more in going the distance the rebels travelled in two days. 
Now, the result shows, if he had only saved half his time, he would have 
destroyed Lee's army, and ended the war." 



254 Life of General Grant. 

resistance to Gen. Grant's advance. The rebel line 
was about six miles in length ; and orders were given 
to attack the whole front at dayhght on the morning of 
June 1. The assault was made by the Sixth Corps 
and Gen. Smith's command, which had just arrived 
from Butler's army. Gen. Burnside attacked the 
enemy's left. The first line of works was carried and 
held. The record of the day's fighting was Kke that 
often given. Our soldiers advanced to the muzzles of 
the enemy's guns with a bravery and patriotism that 
smiled at death in defence of their country ; and they 
were met by a courage as fearless as it was misplaced. 
Fierce assaults were made upon each of our corps not 
engaged in the principal attack ; but, in eveiy instance, 
were repulsed. 

Our loss in the battles at and around Cold Harbor 
was numbered by thousands. 

Amono- the killed was Brig.-Gen. Peter A. Porter 
of New York. His patriotism had descended to hnn 
from a distinguished father, — Gen. Porter of Niagara 
Falls, who served with honor iii the war of 1812. 
When the Rebellion broke out. Gen. Porter left a 
home of wealth and taste, embellished with every 
attraction which could be desired, and gave a noble 
life to the cause of his country. He was struck in 
the neck, and fell, but rose to his knees, when he was 
pierced by six bullets. His last words were, " Dress 
up to your colors ! " 

« If there be, on this earthly sphere, 
A boon, an offering. Heaven holds dear, 
'Tis the last Ubation Liberty draws 
From the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause." 



I 



Battle of Cold Haeboe. 255 

The whole series of brilhant mihtaiy operations by 
which Gen. Grant had carried an army of a hundred 
thousand men in forty-three days from the Rapidan to 
the James, ^^athout the loss of a wagon, compelling 
his able antagonist to race at his side for the safety of 
the rebel capital, will never cease to be the study and 
admiration of the military student. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 



a EN. GRANT now determined to adopt the other 
alternative, which had from the first been in his 
mind, and transfer his army by flank-marches to the 
south side of the James River. This operation, in the 
face of an enemy always alert and energetic. Napoleon 
pronounced " the ablest manoeuvre taught by military 
art." To conceal his purpose, strong demonstrations 
were made at Meadow Bridge and two or three other 
points, as if with a view of crossing the Chickahominy ; 
and Gen. Lee commenced strengthening these points by 
defensive works. But on Sunday, the 12th of June, 
the army of more than a hundred thousand men, 
including cavalry, artillery, and infantr}^ began their 
march ; and so skilful had been the arrangements, that, 
though wnthin a short distance of an enemy in nearly 
equal numbers and a vigilant commander. Gen. Lee 
knew nothing of the movement, until, on the morning of 
the loth, he found that his adroit and active enemy was 
far on the way to his rear. 

The host pressed on night and day with untiring 
energy. Across rivers and mountains, through val- 
leys and plains, the army moved, until, almost with- 
out halting, they were, in thirty-six hours, on the 

256 



i 



Siege of Peteesburg. 257 

south bank of the James, fifty-five miles from Cold 
Harbor. 

This extraordinary movement, in the secrecy, quick- 
ness, and perfect success with which it was executed, 
has excited the unqualified admiration of every historian 
of the war, North and South. 

Petersburg is twenty-two miles south of Richmond, 
on the Appomattox ; and is the centre of all the rail- 
roads connecting Richmond and the Southern States. 

Gen. Butler had, on the 10th, sent a force of infantry 
and cavalry to capture the place if possible, and to 
destroy the railroads and bridges over the Appomattox. 

The work was gallantly done, but with partial suc- 
cess. The defences on the south side were carried, 
and our men penetrated some distance into the town : 
but the works were too strong to be carried by assault ; 
and Gen. Gilmore, m command of the expedition, retired. 

Gen. Lee, astonished to find Gen. Grant fifty miles 
south of him, had humed his army with all haste to 
the defence of Petersburg, rushing through Richmond 
to the amazement of its citizens. They succeeded in 
amvinff a few hours before the assault on the 15th. 

In this whole movement of Gen. Grant to the south 
of Richmond, he evinced a moral courage and self- 
reliance scarcely surpassed by his determination to 
move south of Vicksburg against the advice of all his 
generals. The Administration had no desire to interfere 
with his plans ; but it was well known it was exceed- 
ingly anxious that the army should be kept between 
Washington and Lee's army, and not beyond and south 
of it. The government was well aware of the supreme 
importance which in Europe is attached to the cap- 
17 



258 Life of General Grant. 

ture of a nation's capital, Vienna in possession of the 
French army was Austria conquered. Paris in the 
hands of the allied sovereigns was France subjugated. 
The capture of Washington would lead to immediate 
and most embaiTassing complications in our foreign 
relations. 

But, confident in the right, Gen. Grant " took the 
responsibility.'' He had intended to take Petersburg 
before Lee could arrive ; and had ordered Gen. Butler 
to send forward Gen. Smith's corps for this purpose as 
soon as it arrived from the Chickahominy, which was 
promptly done : but Smith, moving in the deliberate 
style of the former campaigns of the Potomac Army, 
lost several hours of time, which never returned ; and, 
when the advance was made, Lee and his veterans had 
arrived in force. 

During; the week followino- several assaults were 
made with unparalleled heroism by the troops under 
Generals Meade, Burnside, Butler, Warren, Hancock, 
and other commanders ; but it was demonstrated that 
the hosts of Lee, securely intrenched behind their for- 
midable works, could resist fivefold their numbers. 
Petersburg was only to be taken by siege. 

June 22, Gen. Wilson, with six thousand cavalry, 
was sent to destroy the railroad communications south 
of Petersburg. He struck the Weldon Railroad at 
Ream's Station, and destroyed sixty miles of track, with 
depots, bridges, cars, locomotives, blacksmith-shops, and 
mills. He brought in four hundred negroes, and large 
numbers of horses and mules. 

The army, which had now been fighting and march- 
ing, almost without intermission, for two months of 



I 



Siege of Petersburg. 259 

extreme heat, enjoyed some days of comparative rest : 
still the Union lines were steadily closing around Peters- 
burg, which was practically an outwork of Richmond. 

Our lines now embraced a circuit of thirty miles. 
The main body of our army was south of and in front 
of Petersburg ; while Gen. Foster was at Deep Bottom, 
and Gen. Butler was at Bennuda Hundred. 

The labors of Gen. Grant were multiform and 
unceasing, — studying his ])lans, conferring with his 
engineers, receiving reports, and issuing orders at head- 
quarters, riding to the outposts, superintending the 
works, speaking a cheering word to the pickets. Night 
and day, he was unwearied and unwearying in his care 
for his *army and his watchfulness of the enemy; 
always plainly dressed, often attended only by a single 
orderly. The soldiers observed all these things, appreci- 
ated their general, and gave him their entire confidence. 
Officers and men said, " Gen. Grant is so easy to ap- 
proach ! " He always endeavored to set an example of 
earnest work, of avoiding show, and laying aside all 
official airs. 

Sometimes the lessons which he gave in a quiet way 
to pompous subordinates were very effective. He 
happened to be one day on the wharf at City Point, 
plainly dressed, as usual, where a young second lieuten- 
ant, with very bright buttons and a very faultless blue 
coat, was directing some colored men in rolling a 
hogshead on board of a boat. It was so heavy, the men 
could not move it at first ; when the young officer 
shouted gruffly, " Come, niggers, hurry up your work, 
or get another man to help you ! " 

A man who stood near, with a faded blue coat on, 



260 Life of General Grant. 

turned up his sleeves, joined the negroes in pushing the 
hogshead on to the boat, then, without speaking a word 
to any one, walked away. It was the Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral of the United States, as the young officer soon 
learned to his amazement. 

It was probably of no consequence whether the boat 
was loaded five minutes sooner or later ; but it ivas of 
great consequence to show, sympathy with the humble 
labor of the humblest man in carrying forward the 
great campaign, and to rebuke snobbery and laziness 
in high and low. 

The soldiers saw, that with all his attention to the 
great plans, the mighty machinery of the campaign, he 
provided thoughtfully and with energy for the small com- 
forts of his soldiers. The men expressed a determination 
to work and fight, because " it is Grant's job, and we 
are going to put it through for him," Such conduct in 
all armies always endears a commander to his soldiers. 

" What is under my head?" said Sir Ralph Aber- 
cromby, when dying at the siege of Alexandria, in 
Egypt. 

" A blanket." — " Whose blanket ? " — " It is only 
one of the men's," was the answer. 

" I want to know whose blanket it is." — " Duncan 
Roy's of the Forty-second, Sir Ralph." 

"Then see that Duncan Roy has his blanket to- 
night." The next day an army wept, and a nation 
mourned. 

Gen. Grant inspired his soldiers by his bravery, won 
their confidence by his skill, and their love by his 
kindness. 

On the 21st of June, President Lincoln visited Gen. 
Grant. 



Siege of Peteesbueg. 261 

For several weeks, the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania had 
been at work on a mine opposite the corps of Gen. 
Burnside, who had originally suggested the under- 
taking. 

A gallery was dug out five hundred feet in length : at 
its end were two side-galleries, each forty feet long, 
directly under one of the rebel forts. In these side- 
galleries, four tons of powder were placed. The whole 
work was done with such entire secrecy, that no suspi- 
cion of its existence was created. 

Some deserter or prisoner had published the fact in 
a Richmond paper ; but, after examination, it was dis- 
believed in the rebel army. 

The morning of July 30 was fixed upon as the time 
for the explosion. The rebels were strolling about, 
laughing, talking ; some of them singing, " Maryland, 
my Maryland ! " — little thinking that they would soon 
be numbered with the dead. 

The mine was ready ; the match was lighted ; the 
siege-guns were loaded, ready to open their heavy fire 
to protect the storming column : but the mine did not 
explode. Lieut. J. Douty and Sergeant Reese of the 
Forty-eighth Pennsylvania volunteered to enter the 
gallery, and ascertain the cause of the delay. The fuse 
was found to be damp. Another was lighted ; and, a few 
moments after, there was a low rumbling of the earth : 
then came the terrible explosion. The fort was lifted 
two hundred feet into the air, and with it the torn 
and mangled bodies of three hundred men of South- 
Carolina regiments, cannon, rocks, camp-equipages, 
broken gun-carriages, mingled in the clouds of smoke, 
and sheets of fire, which soared, up to the skies. At 



262 Life op General Grant. 

the same instant, the guns of all our batteries opened 
with a thunder which was heard at a distance of several 
miles. The explosion showed a chasm one hundred 
and fifty feet long, sixty feet wide, and thirty feet deep. 

It was one of the many instances in war where time 
is every thino- ; where five minutes' delay will make all 
the difference between an exultant victory which cheers, 
or a mortifying defeat which saddens, a nation's heart. 

The storming-party were in the middle of the chasm. 
The enemy were paralyzed with terror and confusion : 
another mine might ex])lode in an instant under their 
feet. Invisible danger is always the most apj^alling. 
The very uncertainty magnified their fears. It was 
the moment to rush forward, while unopposed, to the 
crest of Cemetery Hill, only four hundred yards dis- 
tant, which commanded the whole rebel works. 

" Seize, seize tlie hour 
Ere it slips from you. Seldom comes the moment 
In life which is sublime and weighty." * 

But the advancing column halted, the divisions which 
followed halted, for a few moments only ; but it was too 
late. Confusion ensued ; the rebels, recovered from 
their frio-ht, opened fire from their guns Avith terrible 
effect. They threw up intrenchments, planted new 
batteries. Gen. Potter succeeded in charging toward 
the crest ; but the enemy now met him with a furious 
storm of grape and canister, and he was compelled to 
fkU back. 

Our loss in killed and captured was four thousand 
men, that of the enemy one thousand. 

There were military courts of inquiry, and long 

* Schiller's Wallenstein. 



Siege of Petersburg. 263 

investio-ations by Congressional committees, as to the 
causes of the faihire. Thei^e were long and elaborate 
reports to prove that the assault ought to have been a 
success ; but none of them succeeded in recalling the 
few moments lost in the outset, or altering the fact of 
failure. Men who are to make such an assault should 
be the picked men of an army. 

On the 4th of July, Gen. Grant united in the honors 
paid at Gettysburg to the fallen heroes who there died 
that their country might live. 

Gen. Lee, wishing to relax the iron grip with which 
Grant was contracting his hues around Petersburg, sent 
Gen. Early with a strong force up the Valley of the 
Shenandoah to take Washington, invade Pennsylvania, 
capture Philadelphia, and do other fearful things. But 
Gen. Grant was not the man with whom such strategy 
could succeed. The day and the man for that had 
passed away. 

Aug. 7, Gen. Grant did with the Departments of 
Washington, the Susquehanna, and West Virginia, 
what the government had done with the larger 
departments. He united them into the Middle De- 
partment, under one commander, — Gen. PhiKp H. 
Sheridan. He sent him two divisions of cavalry ; rais- 
ing Sheridan's force to more than twenty thousand 
men. 

As to instructions, Gen. Grant says, " I left City 
Point on the 15th of September to visit him at his 
headquarters, to decide, after conference with him, what 
should be done. I saw there were but two words of 
instruction necessary, — ' Go in ! ' " He went in, and 
came out with the victories of Opequan, Fisher's Hill, 



264 Life of General Grant. 

Cedar Creek, and Waynesborough, on his banners. His 
memorable ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek, and 
his unmatched prowess, which there, as in the twinkHncr 
of an eye, changed defeat and disaster into victory and 
renown, is not exceeded in splendor in all the brilliant 
annals of war. The rebels had made the rich Valley 
of the Shenandoah their stamping-ground, and from its 
inexhaustible fields had drawn immense supplies for 
their armies. They had rendered it absolutely neces- 
sary that it should be devastated in such a manner, that, 
as Grant expressed it, nothing should invite their return. 
Sheridan performed this painful duty in a way which 
left this beautiful region until the close of the war a 
monument of desolation, which realized Burke's picture 
of the tempest of destruction and woe with which Hyder 
Ali blasted the Plains of the Carnatic. 

During the siege, there were operations north and 
west of Petersburo;, attended with various degrees of 
success. Gen. Butler crossed the James, and, with the 
Tenth and Eighteenth Corps, attacked Fort Harrison, 
below Chapin's Farm, capturing fifteen guns and a large 
portion of the enemy's intrenchments. 

A gallant attack was also made on Fort Gillmore. 
Fort Harrison was of such importance to Richmond, 
that several desperate assaults were made to recover it ; 
but they were repulsed with great loss of life to the 
enemy. 

Gen. Warren took possession of and held the Weldon 
Railroad. Gen. Lee attacked repeatedly with gi-eat 
force, but without success ; and he was at last compelled 
to surrender this important line of communication. Tiie 
soldiers built a branch railroad from the City Point and 



r 



Siege op Petersburg. 265 

Petersburg Railroad to the Weldon Road, which greatly- 
aided in supplying the army. 

In all the operations around Petersburg, the colored 
troops bore themselves in a manner which elicited uni- 
versal commendation. They were patient in toil, cheer- 
ful under privations, and brave in the hour of danger. 

The capture of Atlanta was announced to the army 
on the 4th of September, and was greeted in all the 
camps by long-continued and enthusiastic cheering. 
Afterwards, by way of saluting the victory^, all the guns 
opened lire on the rebel works. The rebel guns replied ; 
and, while the cannonade continued, earth and sky 
seemed to tremble with the deafening roar. 

During the remainder of the time, until the opening 
of the spring campaign, operations were mainly con- 
fined to defending and extending our lines, and to crip- 
pling the enemy's lines of communication, as Avell as 
preventing him fi-om sending any force south. Gen. 
Grant said to a fi'iend at this time, when croakers Avere 
predicting failure, " I shall take Richmond, and Gen. 
Lee knows it." He exhibited the same faith when he 
drew his hues around Vicksburg. 

Mr. Greeley, in his able history of " The American 
Conflict," says, — 

" Grant's conduct of this campaign was not satisfactory to the 
Confederate critics, who gave a decided preference to the strategy 
of McClellan. The merit which may be fairly claimed for Grant 
is that of resolutely undertaking a very difficult and formidable 
task, and executing it to the best of his ability ; at all events, doing 
it" 

But we must now turn to the movements of Sherman 
and his army. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



SHERMAN S MARCH. 



IT must be remembered that the siege of Petersburg, 
and the care of the vast army which ench'cled it, 
was but one item in the multitudinous occupations of 
Gen. Grant. The mihtary operations of all the Union 
armies were conducted by him. In Missouri, in Lou- 
isiana, in Tennessee, in Georgia, large armies were 
marching, halting, fighting, as he gave orders. The 
oversifht of either one was enouo'h to tax the mind and 
energy of any one man. 

When the despatches were read by Gen. Grant 
which announced that Hood, leaving Georgia, had 
crossed the Tennessee, and was marching on Nashville, 
he said, " If I commanded both armies, I should not 
alter the route which Hood is pursuing." * 

Gen. Hood was an impulsive man ; and the object of 
his movements was not clear to either Generals Grant 
or Sherman, — perhaps not clear to his own mind. He 
doubtless thouofht he should find much more comfortable 
quarters in the hotels at Nashville than in his camp. 

* "I was with Napoleon at Boulogne," said Talleyraud, "when he 
learned that Gen. Mack was at Ulm. ' If it were mine to place him,' said he, 
putting his finger on the map at Ulm, ' I would place him there.' In a 
few hours, the camp was broken up, and the whole army was on the route 

to Ulm." 

266 



Sheeman's March. 267 

Grant could now bring Sherman's army to Petersburg 
by the ordinary routes, or by a long sweep to the sea, 
and then up the Atlantic coast to some point south of 
Richmond. A march to the sea was determined on, 
resembling, on a gigantic scale, the march of Sheridan 
through the Valley of the Shenandoah. 

Atlanta had been captured ; and Gen. Sherman or- 
dered its complete evacuation as a military post. 

The mayor and city council remonstrated vehe- 
mently. Gen. Sherman's reply enters admirably and 
with no Avaste of words into the philosophy of the Re- 
bellion. It was a wholesome preaching they were not 
accustomed to hear. In the course of his letter, he 
said, " The only way the people of Atlanta can hope once 
more to live in peace and quiet at home is to stop) this war ; 
which can alone be done by admitting that it began in 
error, and is perpetuated in pride. We do not want 
your negroes, or your horses, or your houses, or your land, 
or any thing you have; but we do ivant and ivill have 
a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That 
we will have ; and, if it involve the destruction of your 
improvements, we cannot help it" 

Atlanta on the 15th of November was a city without 
inhabitants. Its houses were empty, its population had 
gone. Flowers were blooming in the gardens ; but 
solitude reigned over the doomed city. That night the 
heavens reflected a sea of fire, the sky was one broad 
sheet of lurid flames. Buildino;s coverino; an area of 
two hundred acres were burning. The immense ware- 
houses where the munitions of war for the destruction 
of Union men had been stored were destroyed. The 
founderies where rebel cannon and shot and shell had 



268 Life of General Grant. 

been foro;ed and cast were in ruins. Terrible retribu- 
tion had come to this city, which had sent forth the 
instruments of death to so many thousands of loyal 
men. 

Most of Sherman's army had started on its great 
march. A Massachusetts remment was the last to 
leave ; and, fitly enough, its band was playing, by the 
light of the burning city, " John Brown's soul goes 
marchino; on." 

For twenty-four days, the army disappeared from 
Northern view into the very heart of the Rebellion. 
About sixty-live thousand men swept over the country 
in a track fifty miles wide, and advanced from ten to 
twenty miles a day. Of these about five thousand 
were cavalry, under Gen. Kilpatrick, who moved in 
front and on each flank. The army was organized in 
two grand divisions ; one under Gen. Howard, the 
other under Gen. Slocum. Each of these had two 
corps under Generals Logan, Blair, Davis, and 
Williams. Accompanying the train were 3,500 wagons 
and 35,000 horses. 1,328 prisoners and 167 guns were 
taken. Our whole loss in killed was 63 men, and 215 
wounded. 5,000 horses and 1,000 mules were appro- 
priated for army service. 20,000 bales of cotton were 
burned, and 25,000 captured at Savannah. 13,000 
head of cattle, 10,000,000 pounds of corn, 1,217,527 
rations of meat, 919,000 of bread, 483,000 of coffee, 
581,584 of sugar, 1,146,500 of soap, 137,000 of salt, 
and 10,000,000 of fodder, were taken. This was in 
addition to tlie rice and sweet-potatoes, with which the 
army supplied itself bountifully every day. Fourteen 
thousand negroes resigned their connection with "• the 



Sherman's March. 269 

peculiar institution," and followed the army in its 
march. 

All railroads, depSts, mills, founderies, factories, 
arsenals, machine-shops, were destroyed, and every 
thing laid in ruins which could aid the Rebellion. 
The damacje in the State of Georjria alone was esti- 
mated at a hundred milhon dollars. 

This teeming abundance was found in a country 
where thousands of Northern soldiers had been deliber- 
ately put to death by the hngering tortures of starva- 
tion ; rebel officers, in some instances, looking at the 
poor beings as they actually gnawed the flesh fi'om 
their arms in their dying agonies. 

Charleston was evacuated ; Columbia, the capital of 
South Carolina, captured ; and, April 13, the army had 
moved north, and occupied Raleigh, the capital of 
North Carolina. 

It was a just judgment which led the armed hosts of 
the Union, bearing the national ensign, through South 
Carolina, which had commenced the war, and brought 
this avenging punishment upon herself. " Woe unto 
the world because of offences ! For it must needs be 
that offences come ; but woe to that man by whom 
the oflPence cometh ! " 

Soon after Gen. Sherman began his march. Gen. 
Grant sent out two expeditions to prevent a concentra- 
tion of troops against him, — one from Vicksburg to 
the Big Black River, which destroyed railroads, 
bridges, and military stores ; and the other fi-om 
Baton Rouge, threatening the safety of Mobile. 

The march of Sherman was a means of education 
to the South much needed. It brouo-ht the war to the 



270 Life of General Grant. 

homes of the authors of secession ; it showed the 
people, that, notwithstanding all their leaders had told 
them to the contrary, there teas a North, there was a 
United-States Government, with the will and power to 
make itself obeyed. 

It also afforded valuable instruction to the men of 
the Northern army : it showed to them with terrible 
plainness the poverty, the ignorance, and the arro- 
gance created by slavery. 

A member of Gen. Sherman's staff met with an 
original character in Georgia, a shrewd old fellow, who 
expressed his views on reconstruction in the following 
pithy and forcible manner : " It'll take the help of 
Divine Providence, a heap of rain, and a deal of elbow- 
gi-ease, to fix things up again." 

Gen. Grant was amono- the first to commend Gen. 
Sherman's services, and give to them the most generous 
appreciation. He forwarded a subscription of five 
hundred dollars to some friends of Gen. Sherman in 
Columbus, O., who were intending to present him with 
a testimonial of gratitude and regard ; commending the 
general in highest terms as " a good and great man." 

In his official report, he says, " Gen. Sherman's 
movement from Chattanooga to Atlanta was prompt, 
skilful, and brilliant. The history of his flank move- 
ments and battles during that memorable campaign 
will ever be read with an interest unsurpassed by any 
thing in history." Gen. Grant never evinced toward 
any one who co-operated with him the spirit of envy or 
disparagement, which belongs to a little nature. 

Atlanta, the heart of the Rebellion, had fallen : it 
now remained for Grant to take Richmond, its head. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



LEE S RETREAT. 



THE final overthrow of the RebelHon was near at 
hand. During the winter of 1863-4, Fort Fisher 
was taken, which closed the port of Wilmington, N.C., 
— about the only place open to the Confederacy for 
sending out cotton, and importing ordnance, and muni- 
tions of war, from abroad. 

Major-Gen. Grierson, starting from Memphis, cap- 
tured the rebel camp under Forest at Verona, Miss. 
He destroyed tlie Mobile and Ohio Railroad, thirty- 
two cars loaded with wagons and pontoons for Hood's 
army, a large amount of stores, and four thousand 
English carabines intended for the invasion of Ohio 
and Indiana. He also struck the Mississippi Central 
Railroad, destroying machine-shops, factories, stores, 
and thirty warehouses, filled with public property of 
various kinds and of great military value. 

It would require another volume to narrate in detail 
all the particulars of each of the movements throughout 
the country by which Gen. Grant prepared for the 
final campaign. 

Suffice it to say, that in March, 1864, Gen. Canby 
was advancing from New Orleans against Mobile. A 
cavalry expedition of fifteen thousand men was sent 

271 



272 Life of General Grant. 

out from Middle Tennessee under Gen. J. H. Wilson, 
which entered Alabama, and, sweeping over the region 
Avatered by the Tombigbee and the Black Warrior 
Rivers, captured Selma, and Montgomery, Ala., the 
capital of the rebel Confederacy. An immense amount 
of property was destroyed by the expedition, and by 
the rebels to prevent it from seizure. At Montgomery 
alone, a hundred and twenty-five thousand bales of 
cotton were destroyed, and twenty-five thousand at 
Selma. 

Gen. Grant was apprehensive that Gen. Lee might 
evacuate Richmond and unite with Johnston, or retire 
to Lvnchburcr, and thence move into Tennessee. Grant 
was anxious to decide the fate of the Rebellion at Rich- 
mond, — not because of any excessive importance at- 
tached to that city ; but he felt that the power of the 
Confederacy was in Lee's camp ; that liis army must be 
annihilated ; and he had no desire to follow him on a 
chase through the South to Texas. His purpose was 
to break the military power of the Rebellion. 

Gen. Stoneman was sent from East Tennessee with 
a cavalry expedition toward South Carolina, to destroy 
railroads and military resources, and release our starving 
soldiers at the prison at Salisbury, N.C. He was or- 
dered also to destroy the Tennessee Railroad as near to 
Lynchburg as possible. Thence he entered North 
Carolina, capturing the rebel prison-camp at Salisbury 
with 1,364 prisoners. Ten thousand small-arms, seven 
thousand bales of cotton, and large magazines of am- 
munition, and stores of provisions and clothing, were 
destroyed. 

West of the Mississippi, Gen. Pope Avas opening a 



Lee's Retreat. 273 

spring campaign against the rebels Price and Kirby 
Smith. Gen. Hancock was at Winchester to guard 
against a raid north, or to advance south, as might be 
necessary. 

Generals Sherman and Schofield were at Golds- 
borough, N. C, — near the rebel army under Gen. 
Jolniston. Gen. Sheridan had attacked Early at 
Waynesborough, capturing sixteen hundred prisoners, 
eleven guns, seventeen flags, and two hundred loaded 
wagons. Early's force was completely used up ; and 
Sheridan advanced to Whitehouse, where Gen. Grant 
had sent an infantry force and supplies to meet him. 
He soon after joined the army before Petersburg. 

The Armies of the Potomac and the James Avere 
before the defences of Petersburg and Richmond. 
Gen. Grant was evidently crushing out the life of the 
Rebellion. 

To appreciate the cares and responsibilities of Gen. 
Grant at this time, it must be remembered that his 
supervision of military movements extended from the 
Atlantic to the Indians on the Western wilds, and from 
the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. 

On the 24th of March, Gen. Grant issued orders for 
a general advance, on the 29th, of all the armies ope- 
rating against Jlichmond. 

But, on the 25th, Gen. Lee resolved to make a des- 
perate struggle to free himself from the inexorable 
power which was steadily closing around him. At 
daylight, two divisions attacked Fort Steadman, which 
was within one hundred and fifty yards of the rebel 
works. It was a square redoubt covering about one 
acre, and mounted nine guns. Twenty thousand troops 

18 



274 Life of General Grant. 

stood ready to support the attack. The rush was 
sudden, the surprise complete ; and, in a few moments, 
the guns of the fort were turned upon its defenders. 
The supporting force did not advance immediately. Our 
men soon rallied ; and, as the fort was commanded by 
those on its flanks, the artillery opened, and the result 
was the capture of twenty-seven hundred prisoners. 

The guns trained on the ground over which the 
rebels retreated sent forth such a tempest of grape, 
canister, and round-shot, that nearly as many more fell, 
wounded or killed. 

To make this assault, troops had been brought fi'om 
the left of the rebel line ; and an attack was ordered 
along the front of the Second and Sixth Corps on this 
weakened point. The attack was made with great 
spirit : the strongly-intrenched picket-line was carried 
and permanently held by our men. The positions 
gained were of much importance ; and desperate efforts 
were made to retake them4_but without success. It 
was an offset for our failure at the explosion of the 
mine. 

President Lincoln had arrived at Gen. Grant's head- 
quarters the day previous, and witnessed this battle. It 
]iad been intended by Gen. Grant to give the President 
a grand review ; but, on account of the^ bloody contest 
in the morning, it was postponed. President Lincoln, 
speaking of the victory gained, said, " This is better 
than a review." 

A council of war was held here, at which President 
Lincoln, Gen. Grant, Major-CTcnerals Sherman, Meade, 
Sheridan, and Ord, Avere present. Soon after, Gen. 
Sherman left to rejoin his army. 



Lee's Retreat. 275 

Gen. Lee's dasli at Fort Steadman did . not change 
Gen. Grant's orders for an advance on the 29th. 
Troops were concentrated, and dispositions made for 
the grand advance on that day. 

Grant's hne now extended from the north sidfe of the 
James to Hatcher's Run, forty miles in length. 

At three o'clock in the morning, the Fifth Army 
Corps, under Warren, crossed Rowanay Creek : a few 
hours later, the Second Army Corps, under Humphrey, 
crossed Hatcher's Run, four miles above. Both faced 
north, and advanced toward the enemy's right. 

When within about two miles of the Confederate 
lines, Warren was sharply assailed, and a battle ensued ; 
the rebels leavmg their kUled and wounded on the field, 
and losing about a hundred prisoners. 

Humphrey advanced unopposed. Sheridan had 
pushed round to Dinwiddle Court House, several 
miles to the left of the Infantry ; where he bivouacked 
on the night of the 29th. Grant sent him the following 
despatch : — 

I now feel like ending the matter, if it is possible to do so, 
before going back. I do not want you, therefore, to cut loose, and 
go after the enemy's roads at present. In the morning push around 
the enemy, if j-ou can, and get on to his right rear. The move- 
ments of the enemy's cavalry may, of course, modify your action. 
We will act all together as one armj' here until it is seen what can 
be done with the enemy. The signal-officer at Cobb's Hill re- 
ported, at half-past eleven, a.m., that a cavalry column had passed 
that point from Richmond towards Petersburg, taking forty min- 
utes to pass. U. S. Grant, Lieutenanl-General. 

llajor-Gcn. P. H. SheFsIdan. 

On Thursday, the 30th, the rain fell In such torrents 
as to render the roads impassable. Friday the 31st, 



276 Life of General Grant. 

Saturday and Sunday, April 1 and 2, the wliole line 
was engaged in fierce and bloody contest. 

On the afternoon of the 31st, Sheridan advanced to 
Five Forks, the key to the whole rebel line, and about 
eight miles from Dinwiddle Court House. The position 
was alto^rether too strono; to be ridden over, and Sheri- 
dan was forced back : but he dismounted the troopers, 
placed them behind some slight breastworks, left his 
horses to the care of a few mounted men, and received 
the enemy with such a deadly fire from his carabines, 
that they gave way ; and night soon after compelled a 
cessation of the fio-ht. 

Grant, learning of Sheridan's situation, sent down a 
division of the Second Corps (Warren's) to his support; 
and at daylight the battle was renewed. 

Sheridan, mounted on his splendid black horse, 
Rienzi, so famed in the poem entitled " Sheridan's 
Ride," accompanied by his staff, with his beautiful head- 
quarter-flag, rode up and down the hues, directing the 
formation of his troops. He seemed the incarnation of 
enthusiasm, yet entirely self-possessed. 

When giving an important order to an officer on the 
field, he had a way of leaning over the neck of his 
horse, and, as though there were plenty of time, repeat- 
ing his directions slowly, as if hammering every word 
into his memory in a particular place. 

The troops moved into battle magnificently, but with 
the air and tread of men conscious of coming victory. 
The enemy were steadily pressed back to their works. 
Here the cavalry held the front ; while the infantry, 
charmno; in flank and rear, rushed over the intrench- 
ments with irresistible power ; Ayres's division taking 



Lee's Retreat. 277 

in a few moments a thousand prisoners, and Griffin's 
fifteen hundred more. The enemy fled toward tlie 
west, but were charged and pursued with relentless 
vigor until long after dark. The battle of Five Forks 
was won, the victory was complete. Between five and 
six thousand prisoners were taken, and all their artil- 
lery. 

The action was in every respect one of the most bril- 
liant, as it was one of the most important, in the war. 
Sheridan masked the movements of his infantry behind 
his lines of cavalry. His bugles sounded as if for a 
charge on the right ; while his real blow was delivered 
with invincible impetuosity on the enemy's left. The 
infantry were moved as if to attack the front ; when sud- 
denly they were wheeled, and hurled with the force of 
an avalanche upon the astounded enemy in tlieir rear. 
Large bodies of infantry and cavalry were handled on 
the field with the skill of a master, and as easily as the 
pawns on a chess-board. 

Gen. Grant thought it possible the enemy might 
leave their lines in the darkness of the night, concentrate 
against Sheridan, and force him out of his position. 
He therefore at once ordered the batteries to open fire 
along the whole line ; and a terrific bombardment 
ensued, which was continued until four o'clock in the 
morning. AH night long, the darkness blazed with the 
bursting of thousands of shells, and the heavens re- 
sounded with the thunders of the heavy guns. It was 
the majestic prelude to the last great battle of the 
Rebellion. It was a swellino; anthem which celebrated 
the approaching death of the gigantic conspiracy. 

Gen. Grant's plans were made known only as he 



278 Life op General Grant. 

issued his orders. His reserve as to his intended 
movements was the same to those around his head- 
quarters as to the enemy. That night it was tele- 
graphed north that Sheridan was to make a raid to 
Burkesville ; that the army were to move toward the 
South-side Railroad : but such plans never existed in 
the mind of the commander of our armies. 

At daylight, Sunday morning, April 2, Gen. Grant 
ordered an assault by Parke, Wright, and Ord, who 
held our intrenchments from the Appomattox to Hatch- 
er's Run. 

Parke, with the old Ninth Corps, was opposite the 
strongest poi'tion of the rebel works ; but in a few 
moments they had with a shout carried the outer 
line of defences, and taken twenty-seven guns and sev- 
eral hundred prisoners. 

Wright, with the Sixth Corps, advanced at the signal 
in gallant style, sweeping every thing before them to 
the Boydton Plank-road, capturing guns, flags, and sev- 
eral thousand prisoners. 

Ord, with the Second Corps, had overcome every 
difficulty, and carried the lines near Hatcher's Run, and 
was marching to unite with Wright, and move towards 
Petersburg. 

At this time, Gen. Grant, who had left his head- 
quarters at Dabney's Mills to overlook the movements 
at another point, rode hurriedly along the lines. 
The old Army of the Potomac had welcomed many 
commanders with loud cheers and bright hopes who 
were to lead them to Richmond ; but their hopes had 
died in their hearts, and their cheers on their lips. 
Their days of cheering and sanguine confidence were 



Lee's Retreat. 279 

gone. But now they saw that the old cry, " On to 
Richmond ! " was to be reahzed in the fulness and 
splendor of long-sought victory. The man and the 
hour at last had come. 

As Gen. Grant passed, they now greeted him with 
exultant and grateful shouts. Wild huzzas rang out 
from all sides. He lifted his hat, acknowledging the 
salute, but trotted rapidly on. The soldiers were evi- 
dently in magnificent spirits. 

Lee was now being pressed back into the inner works 
immediately around Petersburg. The murderous fire 
of the Union cannon, and the line of glittering bayonets, 
were encircling the rebel army, from the Appomattox 
on the right to the Appomattox on the left. 

Gen. A. P. Hill now led a desperate charge, to save, 
if possible, the waning fortunes of the enemy. The 
attack was made with the reckless and impetuous valor 
of the Southern soldiers. It was the last grand attack 
of Lee's army, and was inspired by such determined 
bravery, that our men were re-enforced at the point of 
attack; but they were met by indomitable heroism, 
and repulsed with terrible slaughter. Gen. Hill was 
killed. He w^as among the ablest and most daring of 
the rebel generals, and his division one of the most 
renowned in the Southern armies. The words, " Hill's 
division," were the last sounds murnmred by Stone- 
Avall Jackson as his wandering mind seemed watching 
the tide of battle on some hard-fought field. 

Large fires were now seen to be burning in Peters- 
burg ; and the signal-officers on the towers soon report- 
ed that Gen. Lee was in full retreat, in three columns, 
across the Appomattox River. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

CAPTURE OF RICHMOND. 

DURING the day, President Lincoln was at City 
Point, at Gen. Grant's headquarters, and from 
time to time sent despatches of the advancing tide of 
victories to the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, by 
whom they were telegraphed to the Northern and West- 
ern cities, everywhere rejoicing the hearts of loyal men. 
At the same time, Jefferson Davis was attending morn- 
ing service at St. Paul's Church in Richmond. At 
eleven o'clock, an orderly entered, walked up the aisle, 
and handed Mr. Davis a despatch, which read as fol- 
lows : — 

" My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be 
evacuated this evening. " R. E. Lee." 

The intense anxiety prevailing among the people of 
Richmond was depicted in the countenances of the au- 
dience. He read it in silence, and Avent immediately 
out. The Confederate president was deposed. 

It was a still Sabbath day in spring. The city was 
held by the rebel forces. No proclamation was made ; 
no Union flags were in sight ; no Federal guns were 
heard : bvit the news, in some way, unaccountably flew 
through the air, as news of great events sometimes will. 

2t>0 



Capture of Richmond. 281 

People rushed out of church, and whispered to each 
other that Richmond had fallen. Carts Avere driven to the 
offices of the departments, and loaded with papers : the 
hanks opened, and began paying out money to depositors. 
Wagons, carriages, veliicles of every description, were 
soon in demand at enormous rates, and were driven to 
private houses and stores, and loaded with trunks and 
goods, and hurried to the railroad station. 

Late at night, Gen. Ewell ordered the burning of 
four large warehouses filled with tobacco, which threat- 
ened the whole city with conflagration. The citizens 
remonstrated with the military authorities ; but no notice 
was taken of them : and the people of Richmond were 
doomed to see their property destroyed, and their city 
laid in ashes, by the leaders whom they had trusted, and 
followed in the war upon the government. The con- 
flagration spread until the banks, churches, stores, mills, 
all the business part of the city, were in flames. All the 
roads out of the city were crowded with fugitives on 
foot and in every kind of vehicle. Jefferson Davis 
hurried off on a special train in the afternoon. The 
city authorities had ordered all the liquor in the city 
destroyed, and it poured through the gutters in torrents. 
Enough, however, was secured to infuriate large num- 
bers of lawless and reckless soldiers, who filled the city 
with terror and alarm. Stores were plundered, and 
families buried their silver-plate and jewelry. 

These events were all unknown to Gen. Weitzel and 
our army near Riclnnond. Gen. Weitzel's force had 
been reduced about one-half by the departure of Gen. 
Ord for Petersburg ; but he was ordered to " keep uj) 
appearances," and give every indication possible of the 



282 Life of General Grant. 

presence of a large army. In consequence, on Sunday 
evening, he ordered all the regimental bands to play ; 
and " Yankee Doodle " and " Hail Columbia " sounded 
forth with and without variations. What soldiers wei-c 
left cheered, shouted, and made all the commotion 
possible. But Gen. Ewell at Richmond, ignorant of 
all this, and wishino; to conceal from Gen. Weitzel as 
long as possible that his army was evacuating Rich- 
mond, also ordered his bands to play ; and the remnants 
of the two armies treated each other to music all night, 
mitil the musicians fell asleep exhausted. 

Before daylight, loud explosions were heard in Rich- 
mond, as if the enemy were destroying ammunition. 
The fire was seen reflected on the sky. The rebel rams 
were blown up. Orders were given to capture a 
rebel picket. One was soon brought in who told wdiat 
recriment he belonged to, but could not tell where his 
regiment or its commander was that night. Soon af- 
ter, a deserter came in, who said he was on guard, but 
had not been reheved at the usual time, and he had con- 
cluded to leave the rebel service. These things con- 
firmed the suspicions that Richmond was being evacu- 
ated. At four, A.M., the inevitable negro drove into 
our lines in a buggy, and stated the fact. At daylight, 
Weitzel sent out forty troopers of the Fourth Massachu- 
setts Cavalry, under Major A. H. Stevens, to reconnoi- 
tre. They rode on and on, unmolested by any one, 
until they found themselves in the streets of Richmond. 
They trotted through the city, and, just as the sun was 
rising, planted their guidons on the capitol. It was a 
new day for Richmond, and a newly-risen morn to the 
nation. 



Captuke of Richmond. 283 

At six o'clock, Gen. Weitzel with his army marched 
into Richmond, the colored regiments singing, — 

" John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave." 

A national flag, formerly carried by the Twelfth Maine 
Reo-iment, which had floated over the St. Charles at 
New Orleans, was raised on the capitol of Virginia. 

Gen. Shepley was appointed military governor. 
The flames were still burning ; and efforts were at once 
made to extinguish the fire. It had already consmned 
a third of the city, covering thirty squares. The 
losses to private property could only be counted by 
millions. A thousand prisoners were taken : five 
thousand were found in the hospitals. Five hundred 
guns, five thousand small-arms, thirty locomotives, and 
three hundred cars, were left by the retreating army. 

That forenoon, the telegraph carried the joyful tidings 
all over the North. Business by general consent was 
suspended, flags were raised, salutes fired, church-bells 
were rung, prayers of thanksgiving were offered, pub- 
lic meetings were held, and the people gave themselves 
up to gratitude and rejoicing. 

Gen. Grant was a man who never omitted to wring 
from the enemy all the fruits of \'ictory. When he 
once gained the advantage, he pressed the foe to the 
utmost. When Gen. Grant attacked Lee from the 
south, military critics said it was wrong : he should 
have attacked from the north. But, now that Lee 
was retreating. Grant's wisdom was shown ; for he Avas 
directly in Lee's road to the south. 

Monday morning, April 3, it was found that the ene- 
my had evacuated Petersburg ; and, while the right of 



284 Life of General Grant. 

our army was entering the city, the cavalry on the left, 
under Custer, were already on the track of the retreat- 
ing enemy. Lee w^as moving up the north bank of the 
Appomattox, and Grant the south side. Lee's object 
was to reach Burkesville, fifty-two miles from Peters- 
burg, at the junction of the Danville and South-side 
Ilailroads. 

Lee was confident of making a successful retreat and 
a prolonged campaign. 

Gen. Ord, with the troops of the Army of the James, 
was marching for Burkesville down the line of the 
South-side Railroad : Sheridan, on a parallel line north, 
was marching to strike the road north of Burkesville. 
Lee crossed the Appomattox, and reached Amelia Court 
House on the same railroad, where he had ordered sup- 
plies for his army to meet him. But the train which 
carried them had been ordered to Richmond to take 
away Davis and his friends, and went on without un- 
loading the sup])lies, which were there burned by order 
of the rebel authorities. Lee was compelled to halt his 
famished men here during the 4th and 5th, to gather 
up food and forage. Meanwhile Sheridan had struck 
the railroad at Jettersville half-way between Amelia 
Court House and Burkesville, and, was in position to 
dispute Lee's advance. Grant and Meade, with the 
Second and Sixth Corps, arrived at Jettersville on the 
5th. That night, Lee left Amelia Court House for 
Farmville, thirty-five miles west, where he hoped to 
again cross the Appomattox, and reach the mountains 
beyond Lynchburg. Bilt Gen. Davies had, with a 
mounted force, reached Paine's Cross-Roads, where he 
captured a hundred and eighty wagons, five guns, and 
several hundred prisoners. 



Capture op Richmond. 285 

Lee was now retreating toward Deatonsville, with 
one corps of our army in his rear, one nortli, and one 
south, of liis army, moving on parallel routes. 

Sheridan ordered his division commanders to attack 
Lee's army-trains when feasible, and, if the escort was 
too strong to be captured, to fight on until the division 
behind them could pass them, and attack the enemy 
farther on ; and this division was to fight until it was 
passed by those in its rear ; hoping in this manner to 
find the weak spot in the enemy's line where a grand 
result could be achieved. 

At Sailor's Creek, a small tributary of the Appomat- 
tox, Lee made a stand to save his trains ; but his fine 
was pierced by Gen. Custer's division, supported by 
Crook and Devin. Four hundred wagons Avere de- 
stroyed ; and sixteen pieces of artillery, and many pris- 
oners, were captured. The attack had separated Ewell's 
corps from the main body of Lee's army, who could 
see the smoke of their burning train in the distance. 
They were charged by a brigade of the cavalry under 
Gen. Stagg, until the Sixth Corps could come up; when 
the enemy fell slowly back, but fighting so stubbornly, 
that, for a few moments, a part of our line recoiled from 
their deadly fire. But, soon after, an assault was made 
l)y the intantry in front ; and the cavalry under Custer, 
who drew their sabres, spurred their horses into a full 
run, and, with bugles sounding, charged with enthusiastic 
shouts and cheers upon the enemy. The rebel artillery 
])Oured in shells and grape and canister; but the horses, 
sharing the excitement of their riders, rushed madly 
on. Sabres were dripping with blood ; Avagons, ambu- 
lances, forges, were taken ; whole regiments surren- 



286 Life of General Grant. 

dered. Between six and seven thousand prisoners 
were taken, including Lieut.-Gen. Ewell and several 
other general officers: among them were Kershaw, 
Custis, and Lee. 

It was the destruction of the rear-guard of Lee's 
army. The pursuit was becoming a hunt. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE SURRENUER OF GEN. LEE. 

AT Farmville, the head of Lee's army attempted to 
cross the Appomattox ; but here he was attacked 
by Brig.-Gen. Read, with only two regiments of 
infantry and a squadron of cavahy, regardless of the 
superior numbers of the enemy. But Lee's veteran 
soldiers were not even then to be turned aside by a 
handful of our men, however heroic. They pressed 
on in overwhelming force, and crossed the river. Our 
loss was comparatively heavy ; the gallant Read being 
among the killed. The advance of Lee's army 
passed on ; but, before the rear could cross, the van of 
our Second Corps was upon them, and saved one of 
the bridges fi'om being burned. 

Gen. Grant was with the Second and Sixth Corps, 
and crossed the Appomattox at Farmville. 

But an enemy more dreadful even than Sheridan's 
cavalry, more appalling than the Union bayonets, was 
now uniting to destroy the army of Gen. Lee. The 
men were starving : they could not search for food or 
forage in the neighboring country while the Federal 
horse hung upon their flanks. It was the ghastly skel- 
eton of a proud army which had sought their country's 
ruin. The sunken countenances of the men showed 

287 



288 Life of General Grant. 

they were famishing. Men and horses gladly fed on 
the buds of the trees, or a few kernels of parched corn. 
They dropped by hundreds from exhaustion : thousands 
were too weak to carry their muskets. For four days, 
they had been marching and fighting without rations. 

On the night of Thursday the 6th, the rebel generals 
held a council of war, and decided that surrender was 
inevitable. They deputed Gen. Pendleton to announce 
this judgment to their chief. Lee still hoped to cut 
his way through our cavalry. 

Gen. Lee was now retreating toward Appomattox 
Court House, about fifty miles distant, at the head of 
the Appomattox River, 

On Friday the 7th, Gen. Grant addressed to Gen. 
Lee the following letter, written at Farmville. It was 
delivered that night. 

April?, 1865. 

General, — The result of the last week must convince you 
of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army 
of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and 
regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibihty of 
any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of 
that portion of the Confederate-States army known as the "Army 
of Northern Virginia." 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 
Gen. R. E. Lee. 

Early the next morning, before leaving his headquar- 
ters, he received the following vague and diplomatic 
reply : — 

ApiiiL 7, 1865. 
General, — I have received your note of this date. Though 
not entertaining the opinion you express on the hopelessness of 
further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, 



Surrender of Gen. Lee. 289 

I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless efFusion of blood, and 
therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you 
will offer on condition of its surrender. 

R. E. Lee, General. 
Lieut.-Gcn. U. S. Grant. 

Gen. Grant at once forwarded the following reply: — 

April 8, 1S65. 
General, — Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of 
same date, asking the condition on which I will accept the surren- 
der of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. In reply, 
I would say, that, peace being my great desire, there is but one 
condition I would insist upon ; namely, that the men and officers 
surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against 
the Government of the United States until properly exchanged. 
I will meet you, or Avill designate officers to meet any officers you 
may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, 
for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the 
surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received. 

U. S. Graxt, Lieutenant-General. 
Gen. R. E. Lee. 

Sheridan had started for Appomattox Station, five 
miles south of Appomattox Court House, where Gen. 
Custer, who was in the advance, captured four trains 
laden with supplies for Lee's starving soldiers. He 
pushed on toward Appomattox Court House, fighting 
with Lee's advance, capturing twenty-five guns, a 
hospital-train, wagons, and many prisoners. Sheridan 
had hurried up his cavalry ; and Grant had sent forward 
by a forced march the Fifth, the Twenty-fourth, and 
a part of the Twenty-fifth Corps, where they arrived 
at daylight, Sunday morning, April 9. 

Gen. Lee supposed that he confronted only cavalry, 
and had given orders to Gen. Gordon, " Cut your way 
throunjh at all hazards." 



290 Life op General Grant, 

Sunclaj morning, tlie rebel army attacked our cavalry 
with great vigor. Sheridan dismounted his men, and 
ordered them to fldl back slowly, mitil the infantry 
conld form behind them ; when, at the right moment, 
the bugles sounded to mount : the cavalry rode to the 
right, and disclosed the large masses of infantry and 
the thousands of gleaming bayonets. The impetuous 
Custer was with the advance, dressed somewhat in the 
gay taste of Murat ; his jacket shining with gold lace, 
a crimson silk scarf streaming from his neck, a revolver 
in the top of his cavalry boots, which he used for 
holsters, and an immensely heavy claymore hanging at 
his side.* 

At the moment the order " Charge ! " was to be 
given, a horseman was seen bounding out from the 
rebel lines with a white flag, to ask for a truce till a 
surrender could be completed. He rode upon a full 
run, and was greeted by the wild cheers of the soldiers. 

Gen. Sheridan agreed to a suspension of hostilities 
for half an hour, promising to meet Generals Gordon 
and Wilcox at Appomattox Court House when Gen. 
Grant arriv^ed. The officers rode about, and exchanged 
congratulations. The men began making coffee, and 
rejoicing that those sabbath hours would probably 
witness the end of the Rebellion. 

At the appointed hour. Gen. Sheridan and several 
of his principal officers rode over to Appomattox. 

Appomattox Court House, where the surrender of 
Gen. Lee was made, is a small old town in Virginia, 
containing a court house, a tavern, and four or five 
houses ; the principal one being occupied by a Mr. 

* Col. Newhall. 



Surrender of Gen. Lee. 291 

Wilmer McLean. There was one street In the town, 
and one end of that was boarded up to keep out the 
cows. 

While waiting for the arrival of Gen. Grant, our 
officers and some of the Southern generals strolled 
about, and talked over the war and the approaching 
peace. Gen. Longstreet was there, his arm still in a 
sling from the wound accidentally given in the Wilder- 
ness by his own men. Gen. Rickett was there, who 
had received the heaviest of our attack at Five Forks. 
He related the audacity of a Yankee cavalry-man, 
mounted on a mule, who leaped over the breastworks 
near him, and ordered him to surrender. 

About two o'clock, when Gen. Grant rode into the 
town, he saw Generals Sheridan and Ord at the end of 
the street. Addressing Gen. Sheridan in his usual 
quiet and undemonstrative manner, he said, " How are 
you, Sheridan ? " — " First-rate, thank you. How are 
you?" — "Is Gen. Lee up there?" said Grant. 
" Yes." — " Well, then, we'll go up." 

Some men would have entered upon a little glorifica- 
tion ; but this was not Gen. Grant's style. 

" When all was over at Waterloo," said Wellington, 
" Blucher and I met at La Maison Rouge. It was 
midnight when he came ; and, riding up, he threw his 
arms round me, and kissed me on both cheeks as I sat 
in the saddle." 

On reaching Mr. McLean's house, where the inter- 
view was to take place. Gen. Lee was already waiting : 
His fine gray charger, in the care of an orderly, was 
nibbling the grass on the lawn. Gen. Grant, with cfna 
or two of his staff, passed into a large front room. 



292 Life of General Grant. 

where lie found Gen. Lee, a tall, soklierly-looking man, 
about sixty, with gray hair and beard, and bright eyes. 
He was dressed in a new uniform of Confederate gray, 
and wore an elegant dress-sword presented to him by 
the State of Virmnia. 

Grant had ridden over thirty miles ; wore his usu.al 
campaign suit, not free from dust, and splashes of mud ; 
had no sword or sash, and no insignia of rank. 

The two officers shook hands courteously, and com- 
menced conversation. The first topic related to the 
ceremonies to be observed at the surrender. The 
pride of the chivalry was sensitive on this point. Gen. 
Grant, as he could afford to do, waived all ceremony, 
and agreed that the arms should be received by his 
officers, and that Lee's officers should retain their side- 
arms and private baggage. 

Gen. Lee then said that many of his men owned 
their horses. Gen. Grant consented that they should 
retain these also ; adding, " Some will need them at 
home in their spring-work." Gen. Lee expressed great 
gratification at the generous terms conceded ; and they 
were embodied in the two following letters, written at a 
small pine-table in the room : — 

Appomattox Court House, Va., April 9, 1865. 
General, — In accordance with the substance of my letter to 
you of the 8th instant, 1 propose to receive the surrender of the 
Ai'uiy of Nortliern Virginia on the following terms ; to wit, rolls 
of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate ; one copy to be 
given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be re- 
tained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The 
officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against 
the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, 
and each company or regimental commander to sign a like 2)arole 



I 



Surrender of Gen. Lee. 293 

for tlie men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and jinlilic 
property, to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers 
appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side- 
arms of the officers, nor theu- private horses or baggage. This 
done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, 
not to be disturbed by United-States authoi-ity so long as they 
observe their jiarolcs, and the laws in force where they may reside. 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 
Gen. E. E. Lee. 

Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
April 9, 1865. 

General, — I received your letter of this date, containing the 
terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as jjro- 
posed by you. As they are substantially the same as those ex- 
pressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will 
proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations 
into effect. R. E. Lee, General. 

Lieut.-Gen. U. S. Grant. 

When Gen. Lee came out, as he stood for a few 
moments on the steps waiting for his horse, he looked 
over toward the valley where his army lay, and smote 
his hands together, apparently not noticing any thing 
until his horse was brought, when he mounted and 
rode off. 

When Gen. Grant appeared, his countenance told 
nothing. His manner was quiet and unexcited as ever 
as he rode away to telegraph the joyful tidings to 
Washino-ton. 

Mr. McLean soon sold out his fltrniture at high 
prices to officers who wished to preserve relics of the 
memorable occasion. Sheridan gave him twenty dollars 
in gold for the little pine-table, and sent it to the wife of 
his friend Custer. Others plucked the flowers in the 
door-yard, and sent them that night, odorous of peace, 
to distant homes. 



294 Life of General Grant. 

The news of the surrender was received bj Loth 
armies with acclamations. That evening, Gen. Grant 
sent rations for twenty thousand men to the starving 
enemy ; and, as fast as paroled, Gen. Lee's soldiers 
were furnished with food and transportation home by 
the government they had fought to destroy. 

Gen. Grant proceeded direct to Washington without 
entering Richmond, or accepting ovations on the route. 
He arrived on the 13th of April, and at once advised 
that the draft be stopped, and expressed the opinion that 
the Rebellion was virtually ended. That day, orders 
were issued, in accordance with, these views, to stop all 
recruiting, curtail the purchases of arms, ammunition, 
and supplies, and to reduce immediately all the expenses 
of the army. 

It was announced in the Washington papers of April 
14 that Gen. Grant would attend Ford's Theatre that 
evening, in company with President Lincoln ; but he had 
made arrangements to visit his family that day, and was 
absent. President Lincoln was assassinated that even- 
ing; and the evidence at the trial of Payne showed that 
it was the intention of the conspirators to have murdered 
Gen. Grant at the same time and place- 
But Providence had ordered it otherwise. Gen. 
Grant at once returned to Washington, and was one 
of the most sincere mourners at the funeral of his 
tried friend, the beloved and martyred Lincoln, which 
took place on the 19th of April, 1865, the anniversary 
of the sheddino; of the first blood in the war in the 
streets of Baltimore. 

Soon after, Andrew Johnson, who had succeeded to 
the presidency on the death of Mr. Lincoln, issued a 



Surrender of Gen. Lee, 295 

proclamation that tlie assassination of the President liacl 
been "incited, concerted, and procured by and between 
Jefferson Davis, late of Richmond," and other persons 
named ; and oflPering a reward for his arrest. On leav- 
ing Richmond, Davis proceeded to Danville, where he 
issued a proclamation to the rebel Confederacy. Refer- 
rino- to the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, he 
said, with far more truth and point than he was aware 
of, " We have now entered upon a new phase of the 
struggle." In a few days after, he was amazed and 
bewildered to hear of still another " phase in the strug- 
gle," in the surrender of Lee and his whole army. 
He now fled south as best he could ; hoping to reach the 
seacoast, and escape out of the country. He was taken, 
on the 11th of May, in a small rebel camp at Irwins- 
ville, Ga. When captured, " the president " of the 
Confederacy was dressed in woman's clothes, endeav- 
oring to make his way to a small spring, and elude the 
Federal cavalry which surrounded his tent. 

On the 5th of April, Gen. Grant had written to 
Sherman that Lee must soon surrender, and directing 
him to advance, and " see if Ave cannot finish the job 
with Lee's and Johnston's armies." 

On the IGth, Johnston requested an interview with 
Gen. Sherman, in which he offered terms of surrendjr, 
which Sherman positively refused. The next day, 
however, they wore reluctantly accepted in a modified 
form. 

When transmitted to the Government, they were 
at once rejected, and Gen. Grant ordered to proceed to 
Raleigh, with full powers to act in the premises. He 
did so, but with entire delicacy toward Shernian and 



296 Life of General Grant. 

the peculiar circumstances in wliich lie was placed. 
He arrived on the 24th, and acquainted Sherman with 
the views of the President and cabinet. He refused to 
suspend Sherman as he was authorized to do, or to 
displace him in the negotiations ; and they were renewed 
between Johnston and Sherman : and, the second day 
after his arrival at Raleigh, Grant telegraphed to 
Washino-ton that Johnston had surrendered to Sher- 
man on the same terms which were accorded to Lee 
and the army of Northern Virginia. On the 28th, 
Gen. Grant was again at his headquarters at Washing- 
ton, engrossed in the duties of his office. 

On the 4th of May, Gen. Taylor surrendered to 
Gen. Canby all the remaining rebel forces east of the 
Mississippi. On the 22d and 23d, the Union armies 
were reviewed at Washington by the President of the 
United States, the Secretary of War, and the Lieuten- 
ant-General. The splendid pageant was witnessed by 
all the members of the diplomatic corps, and by vast 
numbers of citizens from all parts of the Union, who 
united in this ovation to the patriot soldiers. 

Gen. Sherman was directed to proceed to Texas, and 
take immediate command of our forces there ; but, on 
the 2(3th of j\Lay, Gen. Kirby Smith surrendered his 
entire command west of the Mississijjpi to Major-Gen. 
Canby. 

The war was thus terminated with the surrender of 
all tlie armies of the rebel government. The number 
of rebel soldiers who surrendered was 174,223 : the 
number of prisoners was 98,802. The Union armies 
under the command of Gen. Grant numbered 1,000,516 
soldiers. Their commander might well be proud of 



SUERENDER OF GeN. Lee, 297 

the great services, which, with him, tliey had performed 
for tlie comitry. He issued the following farewell 
address : — 

" Soldiers of the Akmies of the United States, — 
By your patriotic devotion to your country in tlie hour of danger 
and alarm, your magnificent fighting, bravery, and endm-anee, you 
have maintained the supremacy of the Union and the Constitution, 
overthrown all armed opposition to the enforcement of the laws 
and the proclamations forever abolishing slavery, — the cause and 
pretext of the Rebellion, — and opened the way to the rightful 
authorities to restore order, and inaugurate peace on a permanent 
and enduring basis on e^•ery foot of American soil. Your marches, 
sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, resolution, and brilliancy 
of results, dim the lustre of the world's past military achieve- 
ments, and will be the patriot's precedent in defence of liberty 
and right in all time to come. In obedience to your Country's 
call, you left yom' homes and families, and volunteered in her 
defence. Victory has crowned your valor, and secured the pur- 
pose of your patriotic hearts ; and with the gratitude of yom' 
countr}'men, and the highest honors a great and free nation can 
accord, you will soon be permitted to return to your homes and 
families, conscious of having discharged the highest duty of 
American citizens. To achieve these glorious triumphs, and 
secure to yourselves, fellow-countiymen, and posterity, the bless- 
ings of fi-ee institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant com- 
rades have fallen, and sealed the priceless legacy with their blood. 
The graves of these a grateful nation bedews with tears, honors 
their memories, and will ever cherish and support their stricken 
famiUes." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

GEN. GRANT SINCE THE WAR. 

THE following figures, taken from various public 
documents, will probably give a better idea of the 
gigantic nature of the war, and the costly sacrifices 
demanded by slavery, than any description in words. 
The simple facts are a tribute to the patriotism, the 
courage, the enduring faith, of the nation, more elo- 
quent than any language of eulogium. 

The war had closed, and Gen. Grant now addressed 
himself with great energy to the works of peace. 

By the 22d of August, he had succeeded in muster- 
ing out of the army 719,338 ; by Sept. 14, 741,107 ; 
and by Nov. 15, 1865, there had been returned to 
their homes 800,963 men. The work was rapidly fol- 
lowed every month, until, Nov. 1, 1,023,021 had been 
discharged, and the army reduced to 11,000 men. 
Horses and mules had been sold to the value of 815,- 
269,000 ; barracks and hospitals sold to the amount 
of $447,873. The sale of damaged clothing yielded 
$902,770. The military railroads, covering 2,630 miles, 
with 6,605 cars and 433 locomotives, were relinquished, 
and transferred to proper authorities. Railroad equip- 
ments were sold, amounting to $10,910,812. The mili- 
tary telegraph, wdiich extended 15,389 miles, at a cost of 

298 



Gen, Grant since the War. 299 

$3,219,400, was discontinued, the materials sold, and its 
employes discharged. 

The whole, number of men enlisted at different times 
during the war was 2,688,522. Of these, 50,000 were 
killed in battle ; 219,000 died of wounds and disease in 
the military hospitals ; and 80,000 died after discharge, 
from disease contracted during service : making a 
total loss of about 300,000 men. About 200,000 were 
crippled or permanently disabled. Of colored troops, 
180,000 enlisted, and 30,000 died. More than $300,- 
000,000 was paid in bounties, and by states, towns, 
and cities for the support of the families of soldiers. 
The Sanitary Commission disbursed, in money and sup- 
plies, $14,000,000. The Christian Commission dis- 
bursed $4,500,000. 

During the summer of 1865, Gen. Grant accepted 
invitations fi'om various cities to visit New England. 
He returned through the Canadas ; and subsequently 
went to Illinois, visiting the tomb of Lincoln and his 
old home at Galena. Wherever he went, the people 
showed him every demonstration of respect and af- 
fection. 

In December, he made a rapid tour of inspection 
through several of the Southern States. He passed 
one day each in Raleigh, Savannah, and Augusta, and 
two days in Charleston. 

On his return, President Johnson requested Gen. 
Grant to report the result of his observations during 
this flying political reconnoissance. In the course of his 
report. Gen. Grant says, — - 

" I did not meet any one, either tliose holding places under the 
government, or citizens of the Southern States, who thinks it prac- 



300 Life of General Grant. 

ticable to withdraw the military from the South at present. Tlie 
white and the black mutually require the protection of the General 
Government. 

" It is to be regi-etted that there cannot be a greater commin- 
gling at this time between the citizens of the two sections, and par- 
ticularly of those intrusted with the law-making power." 

Congress passed a bill to revive tlie grade of 
" General of the Army of the United States ; " and 
Gen. Grant was appointed to the position. The bill 
was passed in the House of Representatives with onlj 
eleven dissenting votes. It was advocated by leading 
Democrats, among whom was Hon. Mr. Rogers of 
New Jersey. He said, — 

" I believe that the mantle of the illustrious Washington may 
well fall upon the shoulders of Gen. Grant. I believe that he 
has walked in the footsteps of the Father of his Country." 

Hon. Mr. Fink of Ohio, also a prominent Democrat, 
said, — 

" I honor him, sir, not only for his brilliant services in the field, 
but because of his magnanimity in the horn' of triumph, and his 
genuine modesty. He has conducted himself throughout this war 
independent of party considerations or party intrigues, devoting 
himself to the vindication of the true honor of the country in 
maintaining the Constitution and preserving the Union." 

The South was undergoing the convulsions incident 
to tlie close of a great civil war, an entire re-organiza- 
tion of society, and a change in the relations of master 
and slave. The disbanded officers and soldiers of the 
rebel armies had returned to the South, and sought to 
resume their former influence on political questions. 

Gen. Sheridan reported the condition of affairs in 



Gen. Grant since the War. 301 

Texas to be " anomalous, singular, and unsatisfactoiy." 
He added, — 

" My own opinion is, that the trial of a tvJiite man for the murder 
of afreedman, in Texas, would he a farce; and, in making this 
statement, I make it because truth compels me, and for no other 
reason." 

Gen. Grant made the following indorsement on this 
communication : — 

" Respectfully forwarded to the Secretary of War. — Attention 
is invited to that portion of the within communication which 
refers to the condition of the Union men and freedmen in Texas, 
and to the powerlessness of the military, in the present state of 
affairs, to afford them protection. Even the moral effect of the 
presence of troops is passing away ; and, a few days ago, a squad 
of soldiers on duty was fired on by citizens of Brownsville. In 
my opinion, the great number of murders of Union Inen and freed- 
men in Texas, which not only as a rule are unpunished, but unin- 
vestigated, constitute practically a state of insurrection ; and 
beUeving it to be the province and duty of every good govern- 
ment to afford protection to the hves, liberty, and property of its 
citizens, I would recommend the declaration of martial law in 
Texas to secure these. The necessity for governing any portion 
of our territory by martial law is to be deplored. If resorted to, 
it should be limited in its authority, and should leave all local 
authorities and civil tribunals free and .unobstructed until they 
prove their inefficiency or unwillingness to perform their duties. 
Martial law would give security, or comparatively so, to all classes 
of citizens, without regard to race, color, or poUtical opinions ; 
and could be continued until society was capable of protecting 
itself, or until the State is returned to its full relation with the 
Union. The application of martial law to one of these States 
would be a warning to all, and, if necessary, can be extended to 
others. " U. S. Grant, General." 

Gen. Grant, it is to be remembered, is not a politician. 
When the war broke out, he had never acted with the 



302 Life of General Grant. 

Republican party, but with the Democrats. But in 
nothing lias his honesty and independence been shown 
more clearly than hi his judgments of events growing 
out of the war. Prejudice, preconceived opinions, 
have given way to actual facts as they have arisen. 
" A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." 
"Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-mor- 
row speak what to-morrow thinks." 

On the 11th of August, 1867, President Johnson 
determined to remove Mr. Stanton from the office of 
Secretary of War, whose views upon the question of 
reconstruction in the Southern States had become 
obnoxious to the President. 

He conversed with Gen. Grant upon the subject, who 
earnestly remonstrated against the proceeding, and in 
the course of the day addressed to him a private letter 
to the same effect. He foresaw that the action contem- 
plated by the President would lead to evil results. 

This advice was wise, straightforward, and statesman- 
like. It would have been well if it had been followed ,' 
but the President was not to be influenced, and the next 
day sent to Gen. Grant a letter directing him to act as 
Secretary of War ad interim. 

In taking the post assigned to him by the President 
as commander-in-chief, he well knew the misconstruc- 
tion which would be put upon his action by thousands : 
but, conscious that he was only doing what duty re- 
quired, he made no explanations ; sought no newspaper 
defence ; made no mention to any one of the private let- 
ter addressed to the President on the 12th ; and the 
letter was not made public until Congress assembled 
the ensuinc; winter. 



Gen. Grant since the War. 303 

He afldressed to Mr. Stanton a letter, written when 
notified that he was to supersede that gentleman, which 
expressed his high sense of the valuable services ren- 
dered by him to the country and to the army. 

It is not within the scope of this work to write a his- 
tory of the differences between President Johnson and 
Congress on the question of reconstruction in the rebel 
States, except so far as the action of Gen. Grant is con- 
cerned. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Johnson had been 
a life-long Democrat and slaveholder until the opening 
of the war. He then denounced secession, and sup- 
ported the Union party in Tennessee. The Republi- 
cans nominated him for Vice-President, not mainly be- 
cause of his superior fitness for the position, hut from a 
desire to recognize liberally all men, of every shade of 
opinion, who sought to preserve the Union. He ac- 
cepted the nomination, and indorsed the principles upon 
which it was made. When, by Mr. Lincoln's death, 
he entered on the duties of President, he said, " Treason 
should be made odious ; '' that, in the work of reconstruc- 
tion, " traitors should take back seats." 

The rebel States had overthrown their State govern- 
ments, and now desired, after the war, to return to the 
Union, and be again represented in- the National Legis- 
lature. Congress said, in substance, return, but pro- 
vide first that you shall not deprive any citizen of equal 
rio-lits before the law. 

When the number of representatives in Congress 
from the Southern States was to be determined, the 
slaves were counted as part of the population , but, 
when the voting was to be done, the white men alone 
had the power. Congress said. Slavery is abolished. 



304 Life of General Grant. 

The vote of tlie rebel soldier at the South must not be 
allowed to count as equal to the votes of two men In the - 
free States. Shall the one vote of Jefferson Davis count 
as much as the votes of both Gen. Grant and Gen. 
Sherman? If the negroes are not fit to vote in the 
rebel States, they are not fit to give power to those 
States in Congress. 

Slavery being aboHshed, justice requires that the four 
or five millions of freedmen shall be counted as citizens, 
as voters, or not counted at all. If this population is to 
be represented in Congress, it is to be represented like any 
other portion of the people, and not exclusively by their 
former owners, who have attempted to overthrow the 
government and bring anarchy upon the whole country. 

But the President differed from Congress. He was 
Commander-in-chief; he was " President." It was for 
him, and not the representatives of the people, to de- 
cide the terms of reconstruction. The President had 
"a pohcy " of his own, and used his influence to pre- 
vent the acceptance of these terms. The slave States 
were to come back from their lost battle-fields, from 
Andersonville and Salisbury, with all the excess of 
political power over the free States which they once 
held under the Constitution which they had defied and 
rejected. Here issue was joined. Congress passed 
bills, and the President vetoed them : they passed them 
over the veto ; and the President sought to nullify their 
effect, though sworn to " execute " the laws. 

The President went personally to the people, from the 
Hudson to the Mississippi, and denounced Congress as 
" a body hanging on the outskirts of the Government ; " 
and the people decided against him by majorities vary- 



Gen. Grant since toe War. 305 

ing in different States from five thousand to forty tliou- 
sand votes. Now, if we concede entire sincerity and 
honesty to the President at this time, it must be 
admitted that some men would have hesitated, and said, 
" Possibly the loyal millions of the people who have 
sacrificed every thing to save the nation are right, and 
I am wrong. My sworn duty is to ' execute,' not to 
make the laws." But the President did far otherwise. 
He removed Mr. Stanton, who sustained the acts of 
Congress. 

On the 17th of August, he ordered Gen. Grant to 
remove from command at New Orleans Gen. Sheridan, 
who had faithfully carried out the laws in Louisiana and 
Texas. In doing this, he asked Gen. Grant to make 
any suggestions in regard to the order. Gen. Grant 
replied in patriotic terms far above all partisan spirit. 
He said, — 

" I am j^leased to avail myself of this invitation to urge, ear- 
nestly urge, ui'ge in the name of a patriotic people who have sacri- 
ficed hundreds of thousands of loyal lives and thousands of millions 
of treasure to preserve the integi'ity and union of this country, that 
this order be not insisted on. It is unmistakably the expressed 
wish of the country that Geu. Sheridan shoidd not be removed 
from his present command. 

" This is a republic, where the will of the people is the law of the 
land. I beg that their voice may be heard. 

" Gen. Sheridan has performed his civil duties faithfully and in- 
telligently. His removal will only be regarded as an effort to 
defeat the laws of Congress." 

The order Avas for a time suspended ; but Gen. Sheri- 
dan was afterwards removed. 

Jan. 13, 18G8, the Senate passed the following reso- 
lution : — 

20 



3t36 Life of Genkral Grant, 

^^ Resolved, That having considered the evidence and reasons 
given by the President in his report of the 1 2th of December, 
1867, for the suspension, from the office of Secretary of War, of 
Edwin M. Stanton, the Senate do not concur in such suspension." 

As soon as Gen. Grant was informed of this action 
of the Senate, he notified the President that his 
duties as Secretary of War ad interim were ended. 
He surrendered the keys of the office to the Adju- 
tant-General, the custodian of the building, and re- 
turned to his office at the headquarters of the army. 
This o-entleman afterwards surrendered them to the 
demand of Mr. Stanton in person, who took possession 
of the office. 

A long correspondence ensued, in which it was evi- 
dent that the President desu'ed to avail himself of Gen. 
Grant's popularity in carrying on his war with Con- 
o-ress, — to put Gen. Grant in the front of the battle, 
and use him for his own purposes. But Grant was not 
to be used in any such manner. He had obeyed the 
President's orders during the recess of Congress to act 
as Secretary of War ad interim, when Mr. Stanton 
retired under protest. He discharged the duties of the 
office with unsurpassed honesty, wisdom, and fidelity. 
In no position in which Gen. Grant has ever been 
})laced has he shown more real ability than in his 
administration of the War Department. How he 
acquitted himself, let President Johnson himself bear 
witness. In his message to the Senate, Dec. 12, 1867, 
giving his reasons for suspending Mr. Stanton, he con- 
cludes with these words, — 

" Salutary reforms have been introduced by the Secretary ad 
interim (Gen. Grant), and great reductions of expenses have been 



Gen. Grant since the War. 307 

cfTecte J under Lis atlministration of tlie War Department, to the 
saving of millions to the treasm-y. " Axdrew Joiixson." 

While the friends of Gen. Grant may differ as to the 
value of such a certificate of character, it is certainly 
not for his political opponents to deny its truth, or 
depreciate its worth. 

When notified of the vote of the Senate, that, under 
the law, he could not legally continue to act, he refused 
to serve any longer. 

In a closmg letter to the President, defending his 
conduct, he uses the following plain language : — 

" The com"se you have understood I agreed to pursue was in vio- 
lation of law, and that without orders from you ; while the course 
I did pursue, and which I never doubted you fiiUy understood, was 
in accordance with law, and not in disobedience of any orders of 
my superior. And now, INIr. President, when my honor as a sol- 
dier, and integrity as a man, have been so violently assailed, pardon 
me for sapng that I can but regard this whole matter, from begin- 
ning to end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance of law for 
which you hesitated to assume the responsibility, in order thus to 
destroy my character before the country. I am in a measure con- 
firmed in this conclusion by your recent orders directing me to 
disobey orders from the Secretary of War, my superior, and your 
subordinate, without having countermanded his authority. I con- 
clude with the assurance, INIr. President, that nothing less than 
a vindication of my personal honor and character could have in- 
duced this correspondence on my part. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" U. S. GuAXT, General" 

Gen. Grant confined himself exclusively to his mili- 
tary duties as head of the armies of the United States. 

On the 21st of May, 1868, the National Republican 
Convention assembled at Chicago. Every State and 



308 Life op General Grant. 

Territory was represented. The delegates were men 
distincnislied for tlieir worth in almost all tlie walks of 
life. The opera-house v/liere the convention assembled 
was crowded from floor to ceiling. 

The chairman of the National Committee, Gov. 
Ward of New Jersey, opened the proceedings with a 
brief address of welcome. Fervent prayer was offered 
by Bishop Simpson, invoking the divine blessing on the 
deliberations of the assembly, and praying that its ac- 
tion might result in bringing peace and harmony to the 
people of all sections, and increase the prosperity and 
glory of oiTr beloved country. 

Gov. Hawlcy of Connecticut was elected president. 
The enthusiasm for Gen. Grant was imbounded, and 
several premature attempts were made to nominate 
him by acclamation ; but the convention decided to pro- 
ceed with its business in regular order. The resolu- 
tions were reported and adopted unanimously ; each res- 
olution, as it was read, being greeted with applause. 

The nomination of candidates for president being 
then in order, Gen. Logan, chairman of the delegation 
from Illinois, rose, and said, " In the name of the loyal 
citizens and soldiers and sailors of this great Republic 
of the United States of America ; in the name of loy- 
alty, liberty, humanity, and justice ; in the name of 
the National Union Republican party, — I nominate as 
candidate for the Chief Magistracy of this nation 
Ulysses S. Grant." 

The nomination was received with enthusiastic cheer- 
ing. When quiet was restored, the vote of each State 
was called alphabetically, beginning with Alabama. 
The chairman of each deleo;ation announced the num- 



Gen. Grant since the War. 309 

ber of its votes, and for whom given. California said 
slic came ten thousand miles to mve Grant ten votes. 
Connecticut " unconditionally surrendered " her vote to 
U. S. Grant. " Maryland, my Maryland," gave four- 
teen votes for Grant. The vote of Georgia was 
announced by Gov. Brown, who said that the Republi- 
cans of Georgia had many of them been secessionists, 
but acted on the maxim, "Enemies in war; in peace, 
friends." As the call of States proceeded, and the vote 
of each was announced with a few patriotic words, the 
applause of the convention was renewed, until, at the 
close, the president made the formal announcement, that 
" six hundred and fifty votes have been cast, all of 
which are for Ulysses S. Grant." 

The convention and the vast audience, numbering 
some three thousand persons, now rose to their feet, and 
greeted the result with tumultuous cheering and every 
demonstration of applause, which continued, without 
interruption, for some minutes. The band played 
" Yankee Doodle ; " the convention again cheered ; the 
ladies waved their handkerchiefs, when the band struck 
up, " Rally round the Flag," which the whole audience 
joined in singing. The scene was one of the most 
impressive and heart-stirring Avhich can be imagined. 
But it was not a mere noisy demonstration of an excited 
crowd. Amid the wild enthusiasm, it was evident that 
hearts were moved by the deep significance, the moral 
grandeur and importance, of the action of the conven- 
tion, and the earnest hope and determination to give 
peace and harmony to a long-distracted nation. 

The father of Gen. Grant, who was visiting relatives 
in Chicago, was present, seated on the platform, — a 



310 Life of General Grant. 

silent, but not an nnmoved, spectator of the honors thus 
gratefully bestowed upon his distinguished son. 

The day these events were transpiring in Chicago, 
Gen. Grant was at his office in Washington, occupied 
with his official duties. 

When some friends brought him the telegraphic 
despatch announcing the action of the convention, he 
evinced but little curiosity about the vote for president, 
but asked with much interest for the resolutions, and 
read them with attentive and thoughtful care. 

The same evening, a large concourse of the citizens 
of Washington serenaded Gen. Grant at his house. 
He was introduced to the people in a few brief and 
eloquent remarks by Hon. George S. Boutwell, and 
made the following apt response : — 

" Gentlemen, — Being entirely unaccustomed to public speak- 
ing, and without the desire to cultivate that power [laughter], it 
is impossible for me to find appropriate language to thank you 
for this demonstration. All that I can say is, that, to whatever 
position I may be called by your will, I shall endeavor to dis- 
charge its duties with fidelity and honesty of purpose. Of my 
rectitude in the performance of public duties, you will have to 
judge for yourselves by my record before you." 

On the 29th of May, the officers of the convention 
visited Washington, and formally made known to Gen. 
Grant his nomination as President. These proceedings 
took place at his residence, in the presence of a large 
assembla2;e of visitors. 

The general Avas attired in citizen's dress, wearing 
a blue military vest ; and his manner was calm and 
thoughtful. 

It was observed, that, when Gov. Hawley began 



Gen. Grant since the War. 311 

reaclino; his address, Gen. Grant chanced to be standino- 
near a marble bnst of President Lincoln, and leaning 
upon the pedestal on which it stood. It was thought a 
fortunate companionship. Gen. Grant replied lirieflj, 
but with evident emotion ; and closed by saying, " If 
elected President, I shall have no policy of my own to 
enforce against the will of the peojjle.''^ 

He subsen^ucntly accepted the nomination in tlie 
following letter : — 

Washington, D.C, May 29, 1868. 
To Gtn. Joseph R. Hawley, President of tlie National Union Republican 
Convention, — 
In formally receiving the nomination of the National Union 
Republican Convention of the 21st of May instant, it seems 
proper that some statement of my views, beyond the mere accept- 
ance of tlie nomination, should be expressed. The proceedings 
of the convention were marked with wisdom, moderation, and 
patriotism, and, I believe, express the feelings of the great mass 
of those who sustained the country through its recent trials. I 
indorse their resolutions. If elected to the office of President of 
the United States, it will be my endeavor to administer all the 
laws in good faith, with economy, and with the view of -giving 
peace, quiet, and protection everywhere. In times like the 
present, it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay 
down a poUcy to be adhererl to, right or wrong, through ;in admin- 
istration of four years. New political issues, not foreseen, are 
constantly arising ; the views of the public on old ones are con- 
stantly changing ; and a purely administrative officer should always 
be left free to execute the will of the people. I always have 
respected that will, and always shall. Peace, and imiversal 
prosperity, its sequence, with economy of administration, will 
lighten the burden of taxation, while it constantly reduces the 
national debt. Let us have peace. 
With great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant. 



312 Life of General Grant. 

On the same day, a committee of the Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Convention waited npon Gen. Grant, and pre- 
sented a complimentary address, and a copy of the 
resolutions passed by the convention. In his reply 
he said, " While it was never a desire of mine to be a 
candidate for political office, it affords me great gratifi- 
cation to feel that I have the support of those who w^ere 
with me in the war. If I did not feel that I had the 
confidence of those, I should feel less desirous of accept- 
ing the position. Acceptance is not a matter of choice, 
biit of duty." 

This spirit is in keeping with the character of the 
man and the high destiny to which he has been called. 



I 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CONCLUSION. 

TO one who has read what Gen. Grant has done, Ht- 
tlc need bo said as to what manner of man he 
is. The outhne of his Vii^c shows his abihty. A West- 
ern boy, with only common advantages, he enters West 
Point witliout prepai-atory study, attracts notice in the 
Mexican War, and soon after retires from the service. 
At the breaking-out of the Ilebelhon, he is an unknown 
man, in the leather business, in Galena, III. He re- 
turns to the army as colonel of a regiment, and without 
friends or influence, in spite of all opposition, advances 
step by step on the path of victory, until the Govern- 
ment places in his hands the whole military power of 
the Union. MiUions of men march at his biddino- : 
hundreds of millions of treasure are expended by his 
order. He captures more prisoners than all other gen- 
erals, and ends a war of four years by the overthrow 
of the Rebellion, amid the grateful acclamations of his 
countrymen, and with a world-wide renown. Such 
achievements are not the result of luck or accident; 
they are but seldom seen in history. 
-- It is easy for military critics to say that this or that 
campaign by rule ought to have resulted differently. 
Some writers said that Badajos ought not to have been 

313 



314 Life of General Grant. 

taken, and others tliat Missionary RlJo-e ought not 
to have been carried. But they loere taken. Success 
in war is the real test of merit. Gen. Grant did not 
quote mihtary text-books as often as others ; but 
he did his work with a smaller staff, and secured larger 
results. 

/ Gen. Gi'ant's honesty has never been questioned by 
any one. He had only a small property when the war 
began, and he had abundant opportunities of enriching 
liimself by what many would consider legitimate means ; 
but his bitterest opponent has never accused him of 
any "financial irregularity." Throughout the war, he 
steadily opposed all schemes for jobbing and speculation. 
He opposed the granting of permits to bring out cotton 
in his department as aiding the Rebellion, and destruc- 
tive of the public interests. When overruled, and asked 
to name the parties to whom the privilege should be 
granted, he answered immediately, " No ; I will not do 
it : for in a week it would be thouirht I was sharino; the 
profits." 

His single purpose, pursued with a steadmess and 
tenacity which never once relaxed its constancy and 
power, was toxlefeat the rebel armies. To this he made 
all things subordinate, and in this he triumphed. 

Gen. Grant is not what is usually termed a " brilliant 
genius ; " but he has that which in a ruler is far 
better, — a sound judgment. If he does not startle by 
the coruscations, he does not disappoint by the eccen- 
tricities or infirmities of genius, so called. Almost all 
qualities are found in men oftener than good judg- 
ment ; because this requires the harmonious balance 
and play of all the other powers. A man may be 



Conclusion. 315 

learned, eloquent, an able general, a powerful writer, 
have great attainments in some specialty, and yet his 
usefulness be greatly impaired, if not destroyed, by an 
unsound judgment. One could apply to Grant the 
words of Tennyson on the Duke of Wellington, whom 
he in many respects resembles : — 

" The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute ; 
Wliole in himself, a common good ; 
Our greatest, yet with least pretence ; 
Great in council, and great in war ; 
Foremost captain of his time ; 
Rich in saving common sense ; 
And, as the greatest only are, 
In his sim])licity sublime." 

Gen. Grant showed great ability in the war ; but he 
has also shown wisdom, practical sagacity, and indepen- 
dence in the whirl of extraordinary, important, and 
exciting events which have occurred at Washington 
since the close of the war. Witness his insistlno- that 
the Government should not violate the parole it had 
accepted from Lee and his officers when this was sug- 
gested by President Johnson. When, also, he entered 
the War Department in August, 1867, on the Avitli- 
drawal of Mr. Stanton, the act was misunderstood, and 
denounced by many influential journals in the country ; 
but, conscious that he was doing his duty, nothing was 
done, not a word was spoken or published by him, 
to stay the tempest of censure. When Congress 
assembled in the winter, the correspondence of Gen. 
Grant with the President and wnth Mr. Stanton 
appeared at the call of Congress, and his true position 
was made known. Gen. Grant's independence of iUc- 



316 Life op General Grant. 

tion and party has given liim praise and censure, during 
tlie last two years, from leading journals in both political 
parties. No higher commendation will be given him 
from any source than has been accorded to him by the 
ablest of his political opponents.* 

Gen. Grant does not make speeches, and some con- 
sider oratory indispensable to statesmanship. But they 
demand entirely different qualities. One requires the 
power to persuade, the other the power to rule. The 
builder of sentences is often far other than the builder 
of States. A man may for years attack and defend 
various public measures with vast learning and dex- 
terity : he will overflow with language in showing 
" how not to do it ; " but is dumb when compelled to 
achieve an immediate, wise, and possible result. 

Men of executive power, in all countries, have often 
been preferred by the people to brilliant writers and 
speakers. Washington, Jackson, Taylor, and Harri- 
son were neither of them orators; but their contempo- 
raries and rivals were among the most eloquent men 
of whom America can boast. "It is the nature of 
party in England," says Lord John Russell, "to ask 
the assistance of men of genius, but to follow the guid- 
ance of men of character." " Caress literary men and 
philosophers," said Napoleon; "but do not take them 
into your counsels." 



* " Of tliG steadiness and stauchness of Gen. Grant's patriotism, or the 
upriglitness and solidity of his cliuracter, no man in the eountry doubts, or 
airects to doubt. 

"On tlio score of loyalty and solid public services, no man in the country 
can conic into competition with this illustrious soldier." — New -York World. 



I 



Conclusion. 317 

But Gen. Grant acts eloquence: the brave words of 
other men he puts into deeds ; what orators s})lendldly 
say, he silently does. " Speech is silver," says the prov- 
erb ; " but silence is golden." More public men have 
been injured by the fatal facility of fluency than by 
voiceless action. The highway of political life is marked 
by the graves of eminent men whose epitaph might be 
written, " Died of a speech," or " Killed by writing a 
letter." 

But, when Gen. Grant has a meaning to express, he 
has no difficulty in making himself understood. In 
war, in civil convulsions, there is little place for bookish 
pedantry or scholarly dandyism. State-papers are not 
prisms in which to look for the colors of the rainbow ; 
they are not word-pictures or literary mosaics in which 
each phrase is selected for its prettiness. The effect of a 
cannon-ball is determined, not by its brightness or polish, 
but by its weight of metal, by the power with which it 
moves, and by its reaching the mark. Gen. Grant's 
w^ords have always reached the mark. " I recognize 
no Southern Confederacy." " I propose to move im- 
mediately on your works." " No terms but imcondi- 
tional surrender." "I shall have no policy to enforce 
against the will of the people." " Let us have peace." 
These are eloquent words, and easily understood. It is 
stated on the best authority,* that, throughout the war, 
Gen. Grant's despatches, orders, and letters of any im- 
portance, were written by him ; that his staff" never 
attempted to imitate or improve his style. And it is a 
striking fact, that, among all the writings on the war, the 
most concise and clearly written accounts of the cam- 

* Badeau. 



318 Life of General Grant. 

paigns are found in Gen. Grant's official reports. 
Where the nai'rative of other historians is obsciire or 
confused, the official report is plain and intelligible. 

Gen. Grant's reticence has sometimes been imputed 
to a desire to conceal his opinions ; but silence is not 
duplicity. He does not resort to mental legerdemain. 
No man has been more frank in declaring his sentiments 
at proper times. He has not chosen to keep his opin- 
ions "on draught" for political tipplers to imbibe, and 
intoxicate themselves by quoting at pleasure ; and in 
this he has shown only prudence and sagacity. While 
not a member of Congress, holding no civil office, but 
at the liead of the army, if he had entered the political 
tournament, and every morning fulminated his senti- 
ments on the agitating and exasperating questions of 
tlie day, he would have been accused of impertinence 
and presumption, or denounced as a " dictator." When 
an officious editor from the South-west called on him, 
and said, " General, our people want to run you for 
President," Grant changed the topic of conversation. 
But his visitor returned to the charge with the remark, 
" General, our people want to run you for President. 
What am I to say when I get liome ? " — " Say nothing, 
sir. I want nothing said." 

Wlien censured. Gen. Grant has at all times pre- 
ferred to be judged by his record, by his acts, rather 
than by any explanations or defence from his friends. 
He has been ably supported, and lias evinced great 
discrimination and foresight in the selection of his gen- 
erals. He has put " the right man in the right place," 
regardless of personal friendships, or powerful influence 
in behalf of inferior men. 



Conclusion. 319 

' It is to he commended in Gen, Grant that lie 
declares lie shall have " no policy to enforce against 
the will of the people." Mr. Lincoln was reproached 
that he had " no policy ; " but.it is one of his enduring 
titles to our latitude. ^ 

The mission of the reformer, and the duty of the 
chief magistrate of a republic, are not the same. The 
reformer, who goes far in advance of the peo])le, may 
shape the opinions of the generation wdiich is to follow 
him, not those of the generation in which he lives ; but 
this is not the w^ork of the wise and successful magis- 
trate, who must move with the people, or not move at 
all. The office of President of the United States is 
not a hobby-horse: it Avas not created to affiird any 
man an opportunity to experiment with his peculiar 
crotchets in morals or politics. An enthusiast might 
have issued the Emancipation Proclamation the morn- 
ing after the attack on Sumter, and, by so doing, 
destroyed all his influence for good during the first 
year of the war, and secured a Congress eager to 
oppose his wishes and defeat his plans. Time is an 
ally Avho will not be despised without taking fearful 
reveno-e. In a free government, the statute-book 
represents the Avill of the people ; and the Executive is 
under oath to " execute the laAVS," not nullify or evade 
them. What Sir Joshua Reynolds says of the domain 
of art is in a measure true in affairs of State, — 
" The present and future are rivals : he who solicits 
the one will be discountenanced by the other." 
Bulwer, in one of his essays, happily says, " Statesmen 
are valued while living, less according to the degree of 
their intellect than to its felicitous application to the 



320 Life of General Grant. 

public exigencies or the prevalent opinions. Time, 
like law, admits no excuse for the man who misunder- 
stands it." When a man has committed himself to 
great principles, it is useless for him to declare the 
particular measures by which he will accomplish the 
result. Mr. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Procla- 
mation ; but the convention which nominated him 
averred that the party would not interfere with slavery 
in the States. A nation like om'S cannot be adjusted 
to a fabled bed of Procrustes, and stretched or 
shortened against its will to fit any man's policy. The 
true American doctrine was never better expressed 
than by Gen. Grant when he said, " This is a republic, 
where the will of the people is the law of the land." 

While opposing the Rebellion with his utmost vigor, 
Gen. Grant has exhibited, towards its authors the great- 
est magnanimity in the hour of their defeat. In no 
sino-le instance has he ever sought to humiliate or 
degrade the men of the South. His opposition to the 
Ptebellion has been touched with no trace of personal 
malice, or revenge toward individuals. He has admit- 
ted, as did all the world, the marvellous devotion of the 
South to the theories it had espoused. It is doubtful if 
any nation in history has ever shown more enthusi- 
asm, more heroism, more self-sacrifice, than the men, 
women, and children of the South to the worst cause 
for which a people ever fought and died. Without an 
army or navy or treasury, they successfully defied 
and resisted the Government for years. Gen. Grant 
recognized the political heresies in which Southern men 
had been educated ; and, while defeating their insane 
purpose to destroy the Union, looked forward to the 



Conclusion. 321 

time, when, freed from the curse of slavery, and yiekl- 
ing obedience to the laws, thej should share the duties 
and partake the blessings of a regenerated republic. 
These sentiments are admirably expressed by Gen. 
Grant in the closing words of his report, in July, 1865. 
Speaking of the armies of the East and West, he 
says, "The splendid achievements of each have nation- 
alized our victories, removed all sectional jealousies 
(of which we have unfortunately experienced too 
much), and the cause of crimination and recrimination 
that might have followed had either section failed in 
its duty. All have a proud record ; and all sections can 
well congratulate themselves and each other for having 
done their full share in restoring the supremacy of law 
over every foot of territory belonging to the United 
States. Let \h.Qxa. hope for perpetual peace andharmony 
tvith that enemy whose manhood, however mistakeji the 
cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor." This 
is the utterance of a patriotism broad and wide as the 
nation itself. It will be fortunate for our country if it 
shall be guided by its wisdom and animated spirit. 

21 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

OP 

SCHUYLER COLFAX. 



CHAPTER I. 

SCHUYLER COLFAX was bora In New-York 
City, March 23, 1823. His grandfather. Gen. 
Wilham Colfax, married Hester Schuyler, a cousin of 
Gen. Philip Schuyler, and was commander of Gen. 
Washington's Life-Guard during the Revolution. 
Schuyler Colfax, the father of the candidate for Vice- 
President, was an officer of one of the New- York 
banks, and died before the birth of his son ; leaving his 
family with limited means. At ten years of age, he 
was })laced in a store in New York, that he might con- 
tribute to the support of the family. In 1836, his 
mother moved to Indiana, and settled in New Carlisle, 
St. Joseph County. He again entered mercantile life, 
as a clerk, until 1840 ; when, at the age of seventeen, 
he was appointed deputy county auditor. He soon 
after removed to South Ber/J., tl:e county town, where 
he has continued to reside. He employed his leisure 

322 



Biographical Sketch of Colfax. 323 

in studying the State laws very carefully; and, in 
1845, he became editor and proprietor of a wcck]}^ 
paper, " The St. Joseph-valley Register." He has 
continued his connection with this paper until quite 
recently, writing from Washington a letter every week 
for publication m its columns. 

A debating club was formed in the town, at wliich 
all the prominent questions of the day in morals and 
politics were discussed; and this became a college to 
young Colfax. He prepared himself for debate by 
reading and study ; and the debate gave him ease and 
readiness in extemporaneous speaking. Henry Clay, 
when at the height of his fame, attributed his success in 
public life to the training he had received in a similar 
society ; although in his first efforts he excited the 
laughter of his companions by saying, " Gentlemen of the 
jury," instead of addressing the presiding officer as 
" Mr. President." 

Mr. Colfax conducted his paper with great fiiirness 
and courtesy toward his opponents. He espoused the 
side of temperance, morals, decency, and good order, in 
controverted questions. The tone of his paper was 
such, that it was a welcome visitor in all families. At 
this time he made the acquaintance of Hon. John 
D. Defrees, now superintendent of government print- 
ing, then editor of " The Indianapolis Journal." Mr. 
Colfax was Senate reporter for " The Journal "* for a 
few years; and the friendship then formed has continued 
to the present time. 

Like almost all young men of active minds at the 
West, Mr. Colfax took a deep interest in the jiolitical 
questions of the day ; and in 1848 was a delegate to 



/ 



324 Biographical Sketch op 

and secretary of the Whig National Convention which 
nominated Gen. Taylor for the Presidency. In 1850, 
he was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 
Indiana. He opposed with great earnestness the prop- 
osition to exclude free cok)red men from settling in 
that State. He opposed it on the broad principles of 
humanity and justice, and as inimical to the true inter- 
ests of the State. His speeches on this question 
caused his defeat the following year in a closely-contested 
canvass for Congress ; his opponent, a shrewd political 
manager, leading him, however, by only two hundred 
out of nearly nineteen thousand votes in the district, 
which was strongly Democratic. 

In 1852, Mr. Colfax was a member of the Whig 
National Convention which nominated Gen. Scott for 
President, and subsequently took an active part in the 
campaign which resulted in the election of Franklin 
Pierce as President. President Pierce in his Inaugural 
Address congratulated the country on the entire settle- 
ment of the questions relating to slavery by the passage 
of the so-called Compromise Measures of 1850. He 
said, " I fervently liope that the question is at rest, and 
that no sectional or ambitious or fanatical excitement 
may again threaten the durability of our institutions, 
or obscure the light of our prosperity." In his first 
message to Congress, Dec. 5, 1853, after dwelling upon 
the importance and certainty of the same " settlement," 
he said, " That this repose is to suffer no shock during 
my official term, if I have power to avert it, those who 
placed me here may be assured." Five months after, 
he signed the bill to repeal the Missouri Compromise, 
which had existed for nearly a quarter of a century, 



Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 325 

prohibiting slavery north of latitude 36° 30'. This 
convulsed the country Avith an agitation never before 
seen, and finally led to the disruption of both the 
great Whig and Democratic parties. 

Dr. Fitch, the representative in Congress from the 
district in which ]Mr. Colfax resided, followed the lead 
of his party, and voted for the repeal. Mr. Colfax 
was nominated for Congress in opposition to him ; and, 
during the summer and autumn of 1854, the two can- 
didates addressed the people together on the great 
question of slavery extension. 

Kossuth, when in this country, declared that the 
American mass-meeting was the greatest field for 
eloquence the world had ever seen, and its requirements 
among the highest. The remark is doubtless true. 
A question of vast pubhc importance to be discussed, 
in which all are interested ; large and intelligent 
audiences, more or less informed upon the- subject, each 
man wielding a vote bearing directly upon the result ; 
the enthusiasm of all thoroughly aroused, — neither the 
forum at Rome, nor the bema at Athens, could give 
higher inspiration to the orator. At the West, both 
speakers generally address the same hearers, and a 
subject is presented in all its aspects. No tribunal is 
more exacting in its requirements than a Western mass- 
meeting, none more fearless in enforcing its demands. 
Every variety of taste is to be suited. The whole 
nature of men is to be addressed. The legal disquisi- 
tion, the polished essay, will not answer. Neither facts, 
nor figures, nor rhetoric, nor pathos, nor humor, 
nor satire, nor argument, will avail ; but all must be 
combined, and urged with the gloAving fervor of 



326 Biographical Sketch of 

earnest conviction. You must not only convince, but 
persuade and inspire. You cannot talk at such a 
multitude : you musftalk to them and with them. Such 
Avere. the great debates between Lincoln and Douglas. 
These were the conditions which Mr. Colfax was re- 
quired to meet ; and he came out of the canvass with a 
majoritv of two thousand in his favor, the same voters 
ha^dng given one thousand Democratic majority at the 
previous election. 

When Congress assembled, Mr. Colfax entered warm- 
ly into the protracted and exciting contest which result- 
ed in the election of Mr. Banks as Speaker of the House. 

In June, 1856, during the struggle for fi-eedom in 
Kansas, Mr. Colfax made a speech in the House of 
Representatives on the " laws " imposed on the Terri- 
tory by border ruffians, which produced a powerful 
effect. He quoted the provision against any person who 
should " say that persons have not the right to hold 
slaves in this Territory." He alluded to the penalty 
affixed to this crime, — that of " imprisonment at hard 
labor, with ball and chain ;" and exhibited to the House 
an iron ball, such as the law required, thirty pounds in 
weight, and a chain six feet long. He then quoted from 
Washington and Jefferson and the fathers of the Re- 
public, and showed, that, if living in Kansas, their senti- 
ments would bring upon them the infamous penalties of 
the slave code. 

Mr. Colfax had been a great admirer of Henry Clay ; 
and, in concluding, he said, — 

" The language of one of the noblest statesmen of tlie age, ut- 
tered six years ago at the other end of this Capitol, rises before my 
mind. 1 allude to the great statesman of Kentucky, Henry Clay. 



Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 327 

And while the party, which, while he lived, lit the torch of slander 
at every avenue of his private life, and libelled him before the 
AniR-ican people by every epithet that renders man infamous, — as 
a gambler, de'baudie, traitor, and enemy of his country, — are now 
engaged in shedding fictitious tears over his gi-ave, and ap^jcaling 
to his old supporters to aid by their votes in shielding them from 
the indignation of an uprisen people, I ask them to read this lan- 
guage of his, which comes to us as from his tomb to-day. With 
the change of but a single geographical word in the place of ' Mex- 
ico,' how prophetically does it apply to the very scenes and issues 
of this year ! And who can doubt with what party he would stand 
in the coming campaign, if he were restored to us from the damps 
of the grave, when they read the following, which fell I'rom his lijas 
in 1850, and with which, thanking the house for its attention, I 
conclude my remarks ? — 

" ' But if, unhappily, we should be involved in war, in civil war, 
between the two parties of this confederac}', in which the effort 
upon the one side should be to restrain the introductioii of slavery 
into the new Territories, and upon the other side to force its intro- 
duction there, what a spectacle should we present to the astonish- 
ment of mankind in an effort not to propagate wrongs in the ter- 
ritories thus acquired from Mexico ! It would be a war in which 
we should have no sympathies, no good wishes; in which all 
mankind would be against us : for, from the commencement of 
the Revolution down to the present time, we have constantly re- 
proached our British ancestors for the introduction of slavery into 
this country.' " 

This speech of Mr. Colfax presented the views of tlie 
Repubhcans with so much force, that half a million 
copies were printed by subscription for general circula- 
tion. 

In 1858, he was triumphantly re-elected over all oppo- 
sition. When the Thirty-seventh Congress organized, he 
was appointed chairman of the Committee on Post-Offices 
and Post-Roads. He took a deep interest in opening new 
routes, and mvino; mail facilities to the West ; and was 



328 Biographical Sketch of Colfax. 

specially active in favor of all measures aiding tlie Paci- 
fic Railroad. ^ 

In 1860, he was an early and ardent friend of Mr. 
Lincoln's nomination for President, and contributed 
largely to the triumph of Republican principles in the 
election of that year. He was urged by powerful influ- 
ences for the position of Postmaster-General ; but Mr. 
Lincoln had decided to appoint Hon. C. B. Smith of 
Indiana Secretary of the Interior, and this forbade a 
second appointment from that State. His relations with 
Mr. Lincoln were those of warm personal friendship ; 
and it is well known that Mr. Lincoln relied confidently 
on his judgment in regard to some of the most impor- 
tant measures of his administration. 



CHAPTER II. 

IN December, 18G3, Mr. Colfax was chosen Speaker 
of the House of Representatives ; and has been subse- 
quently re-chosen to the same office, which he now holds. 
The position is one of great difficulty and responsibility ; 
but Mr. Colfax has acquitted himself with unsurpassed 
dignity and ability. It is an office requu'ing great tact, 
and characteristics the opposite of each other. But the 
quahfications of a presiding officer were probably never 
so clearly and forcibly described as in the language of 
Sir William Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell, in nominat- 
ing Mr. Speaker Abbott for re-election as Speaker of 
the House of Commons in 1802 : — 

" To an enlargement of the mind capable of embracing the most 
comprehensive subjects must be added the faculty of descending 
with precision to the most minute ; to a tenacious respect for forms, 
a liberal regard for principles ; to habits of laborious research, 
powers of prompt and instant decision; to a jealous afl'ection for 
the privileges of the house, an awful sense of its duties; to a 
firmness that can resist solicitation, a suavity of nature that can 
receive it without impatience ; and to a dignity of public demeanor 
suited to the quality of great affairs, and commanding the respect 
that is requisite for conducting them, an urbanity of private man- 
ners that can soften the asperities of business, and adorn an office of 
severe labor with the conciliatory elegance of a station of ease." 

In April, 1865, Mr. Colfax went with a party of ft-icnds 
on a journey across the continent, to San Francisco. 

320 



330 Biographical Sketch of 

The evening before lie started, he called at the White 
House to take leave of President Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln 
was o-oinr>- to Ford's Theatre, and had invited Mr. Colfax 
to accompany him ; but the latter was compelled to 
decline. It was the night of the assassination. The 
conversation naturally turned on the immense mineral 
wealth of the West ; and Mr. Lincoln said, '^ Tell the 
miners from nie that their prosperity is the prosperity of 
the nation. We shall soon prove that we are the treas- 
ury of the world." When Mr. Lincoln rose to leave the 
Executive ISIansion, as it proved for the last time, ]\Ir. 
Colfax accompanied him to the door of his carriage, and 
received the beloved President's last " good-by." At 
the parting moment he turned, and said, " Don't forget, 
Colfax, to tell those miners that that is my speech to 
them. A pleasant journey to you ! I will telegraph you 
at San Francisco. Good-by ! " Within an hour and a 
half, the assassin had done his work. 

Before leaving home for the Pacific, Mr. Colfax de- 
livered a eulogy on the martyred President, at Chicago ; 
and afterwards, by invitation, repeated it in Colorado 
to the Mormons at Salt-lake City, and in Cahfornia. 

His whole journey was a complete ovation along the 
route at every town and city. He was invited to address 
the people ; and he dicl so, speaking on the war, the 
Pacific ' Railroad, the Mexican question, and the great 
interests of the rising nation on the Pacific slope. 

At Salt-lake City Mr. Colfax Avas received with 
much attention, and passed a few days in carefully 
studying the Mormon organization. Brighara Young 
inquired of the speaker what the government intended 
to do about the question of polygamy. Mr. Colfax 



Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 331 

shrewdly replied, that he had hoped the prophet would 
receive a new revelation on that subject, which would 
relieve all embarrassment. The prophet took the remark 
pleasantly, and did not intimate that he could not 
receive such revelations as he thought best. He ac- 
cepted an invitation to address the saints, and gave 
them some excellent advice as to the respective duties 
of government and citizens. 

He thus alluded to the motives of his journey : — 

" I have had ?„ theory for years past, that it is the duty of men 
who are in public Ufe, charged with a participation in the govern- 
ment of a great country like ours, to know as much as possible of 
the interests, development, and resources of the country whose 
destiny, comparatively, has been committed to their hands. And 
I said to my fi'iends, if they would accompany me, Ave would travel 
over the New World till we could look from the shores of the Pa- 
cific towards the continent of Asia, the cradle of the human race. 
And therefore we are here, travelling night and day over j'our 
mountains and valleys, your deserts and plains, to see this region 
between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, where, as I believe 
the seat of empire in this republic ultimately is to be." 

He also said, " The duty of an American citizen is 
condensed in a single sentence, as I said to }'our com- 
mittee yesterday, — allegiance to the constitution^ obedi- 
ence to laws, and devotion to the Uniony 

At San Francisco, he was tendered a magnificent ban- 
quet by the principal citizens, and, in addressing them, 
took occasion, with maidy independence, to dissent from 
the feverish impulse then existing in the South-west to 
embroil the nation in a foreign war over the INIaximiliau 
government. He said, — 

" It is beyond tlie Umit of mortal conception to compass the 
grandem- of the future of our nation if jirudence guides its course. 



332 Biographical Sketch of 

Najioleon has scad in his day, after a bloody war, that his empire 
Avas peace. We can more truly say that this republic is peace. 
Peace is the mission of freedom, and freedom is the primal princi- 
ple of the American Republic. It is not by the glory and tri- 
umphs of aggressive war that its destiny is to be realized, but by 
peace. 

" I am here among you, people of California, apparently a wel- 
come guest. You have placed full confidence in my honesty of 
purpose ; and I would not appear before you to speak only those 
words which you would applaud, when I really differed from you. 
I know how you feel on the Monroe Doctrine, and driving out 
Maximilian. I do not agree with you on these subjects. I will 
be frank with you. I am opposed to war for any purpose or for 
any cause, except for the vindication of the national honor or the 
salvation of the Union. I am for such a war, if it should occupy 
four, ten, or forty years ; but to war in any other cause, that can 
be honorably avoided, I am opposed." 

In his farewell speech at San Francisco, Sept. 1, 
1865, he alluded to American manufacturing interests 
in the following words : — 

" AVe have examined with interest many of your manufactures ; 
and reared, as I was, in the school of Henry Clay, to believe in 
American manufactures, I am jjrouder of the suit in which I am 
clothed to-night, of California cloth, from wool on the back of Cali- 
fornia sheep, woven by the Mission AVoollen Mills, and made 
here, than of the finest suit of French broadcloth I ever owned. 
I would urge you, in these last words, to foster manufactures, 
which are the backbone of national, of state prosperity and 
independence. Even if they should not be profitable as a pecu- 
niary investment, evei'y triumph of mechanical or manufacturing 
industry here is another spoke in the wheel of your progress. 
Develop and foster commerce on your great Pacific sea : for 
llaleigh spoke truly when he said, ' Those who command the sea 
command the trade of the world ; those who command the 
trade of the world command the riches of the world, and thus 
command the world itself.' " 



Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 333 

On the 21st of May, 1868, the National Repubhcan 
Convention assembled at Chicago ; and, after vuiani- 
niously nominating Gen. U. S. Grant for President, 
nominated Hon. Schuyler Colfax for Vice-President. 
The nomination was made unanimous amid the most 
unbounded enthusiasm. 

In response to a serenade given to him by the citizens 
of Washington on the evening of May 22, he said, — 

" My Friends, — I thank you with all the emotions of a grate- 
ful heart for this flattering manifestation of yom- confidence and 
regard. I congratulate you on the auspicious ojiening of an event- 
ful campaign on which we are entering. The Chicago Conven- 
tion, representing the entire continental area of the republic, 
of every State, of every Territory, every district, and every dele- 
gate, ti-oni ocean to ocean, declared that their first and only choice 
for President was Ulysses S. Grant. Brave, and yet unassuming ; 
reticent, and yet, when necessary, firm as the eternal hills ; with 
every thought and hope and aspiration for liis country ; with 
modesty only equalled by his merits, — it is not extravagant for me 
to say that he is to-day, of all other men in this land, first in war, 
first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. His name 
is the very synonyme of victory ; and he will lead the Union hosts 
to triumph at the polls as he led the Union armies to triumph in 
the field. But greater even than the conqueror of Vicksburg and 
destroyer of the Rebellion is the glorious inspiration of our jmnci- 
ples animated by the sublime truths of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Our banner bears an inscription more magnetic than 
the names of its standard-bearers, which the whole world can see as 
it floats to the breeze, — ' Liberty and Loyalty, Justice and Pub- 
lic .Safety.' Defying all prejudices, we are for uplifting the lowly, 
and protecting the oppressed. History records, to the inunortal 
honor of our organization, that it saved the nation, and emancipat- 
ed the race. We struck the fetter from the limb of the slave, and 
lifted millions into the glorious sunlight of liberty. We placed 
the emancipated slave on his feet as a man, and put into his right 
hand the ballot to protect his manhood and his rights. AVc 



334 Biographical Sketch op 

staked our political existence on the reconstruction of the revolteil 
States, on the sure and eternal corner-stone of loyalty ; and we 
shall triumph. I know there is no holiday contest before us ; but 
with energy and zeal, with principles that humanity will prove, 
and that I believe God will bless, we shall go through the contest, 
conquering and to conquer ; and, on the fourth day of next March, 
the people's champion will be borne by the people's vote to yonder 
Wliite House, that, I regret to say, is now dishonored by its un- 
worthy occupant. Then, with peace and confidence, we may 
expect our blessed country to enter upon a career of prosperity 
which shall eclipse the most brilliant annals of the past. I bid you 
God-speed in this work. And now good-night." 

On the afternoon of May 29, a committee from a 
national convention of soldiers and sailors, Avliicli had 
recently assembled at Chicago, called on Speaker Colfax 
to pay their respects, and to present him with a copy of the 
resolutions of the convention. They were received in 
the Speaker's room at the Capitol ; and after a few re- 
marks by Mr. Alliman, the chairman of the committee, 
Mr. Colfax briefly replied. 

He alluded in striking terms to the perils by land and 
sea which were endured by the soldiers and sailors of 
the Union in defence of the Constitution and flag of 
their country. " Great as were the obligations of the 
nation to those at home who stood by the Government 
in its hour of trial, greater still was the debt of gratitude 
it owed to those, who, leaving their homes, famihes, and 
all, at the risk of their lives and limbs, to save the re- 
pubhc from destruction, went forth from every position 
of the republic, — some in the freshness of life, and sonn; 
in the ripe maturity of life. The land, South and North, 
is filled with the graves of the nation's patriot sons. Tlieir 
memory will ever be inscribed in all patriotic hearts as 



Hon. ScHUiLER Colfax. 335 

lono- as time sliiill last or rcpuLiics endure.*' Tliaukino- 
tlio committee, who represented the survivors of the 
heroic defenders of the Union, for tills expression of their 
esteem and regard, he closed \yith the assurance, that. If 
the ballot-box should ratify the nominations at Chicago, 
his fidclitj to princi})le and devotion to the Union would 
show that their confidence had not been misplaced. 

A copy of the platform of principles was presented to 
him, and the connnittee retired. 

The president and other officers of the convention 
visited Washington, formall}^ to announce their nomina- 
tions to Gen. Grant and Speaker Colfax. This was done 
on the evening of Friday, May 29, at the residence of 
Gen. Grant, In the presence of a large assembly of dis- 
tinguished citizens. After the nomination for President 
had been accepted by Gen. Grant, and the enthusiasm 
with which his remarks were received had subsided. 
Gov. Hawley, president of the convention, informed 
Mr. Colfax of his nomination for Vice-President. Mr. 
Colfax replied, — 

"Mr. President Hawley and Gentlemen, — History h;is 
already proclaimed that the victories of the party you represent 
during the recent struggle were always increased by a confidence in 
the national cause, while its reverses and disasters always increased 
the national peril. It is no light tribute, therefore, to the inillions of 
Republicans of the forty-two States and Territories represented 
in the Chicago Convention, that our organization has been so 
inseparably woven with the best interests of the nation, that 
the triumphs and reverses of the one were the triumi)lis and 
reverses of the other. Since the general of our armies, with Ids 
heroic followers, crashed the Rebellion, the key-note of our jjolicy 
— that loyalty should govern what loyalty preserved — has been 
worthy of our honored record in the war. 

" Cordially agi'eeing with you in the platform of principles adopted 



C3G Biographical Sketch of 

at the Chicago Convention, and with tlie resolutions thereto 
attached, I accept the nomination with which I have been honored, 
and will hereafter indicate to you that acceptance in the more 
formal manner which usage seems to require." 

On the 30th of May, Mr. Colflix wrote the following 
letter in acceptance of the nomination as Vice-Presi- 
dent : — 

Washington, D.C, May 30, 18G8. 

To the Hon. J. R. H^vwley, President of the National Union Repuljlican 
Convention. 

Dear Sir, — The platform adopted by the patriotic convention 
over which you presided, and the resolutions which so happily 
supplement it, so entirely agree with my views as to a just national 
policy, that my thanks are due to the delegates as much for this 
clear and auspicious declaration of principles as for the nomination 
with which I have been honored, and which I gratefully accept. 

Wlien the Great Rebellion which imperilled the national exist- 
ence was at last overthrown, the duty of all others devolving on those 
intrusted with the responsibilities of legislation evidently was to 
require that the revolted States should be re-admitted to participa- 
tion in the government against which they had warred, only on 
such a basis as to increase and fortify, not to weaken and endanger, 
the strength and power of the nation. Certainly no one ought to 
have claimed that they should be re-admitted under such a rule 
that their organization as a State could ever again be used, as at 
the opening of the war, to defy the national authority or to destroy 
the national unity. This principle has been the pole-star of those 
who have inflexibly insisted upon the Congressional policy which 
your Convention so cordially indorsed. Baffled by executi^•e 
opposition, and by persistent refusals to accept any plan of recon- 
struction proffered by Congress, justice and public safety at last 
combined to teach us, that only by an enlargement of suffrage in 
those States could the desired end be attained ; and that it was even 
more safe to give the ballot to those who loved the Union than to 
those who had sought ineffectually to destroy it. The assured suc- 
cess of this legislation is being written in the adamant of history, 
and will be our triumphant vindication. More clearly, too, than 
ever before, docs the nation now recognize that the greatest glory 



Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 337 

of the Republic is, that it throws the shield of its protection over the 
humblest and weakest of its people, and vindicates the rights of the 
poor and powerless as faithfully as those of the rich and powerful. 
I rejoice, too, in this connection, to find in your platform the frank 
and fearless avowal that natm-alized citizens must be jM'otected 
abroad at every hazard as though they were native born. Our 
whole people are foreigners, or descendants of foreigners. Our 
fathers established by arms then- right to be called a nation. It 
remains for us to establish the right to welcome to our shores all 
who are willing, by oaths of allegiance, to become American citizens. 
Perpetual allegiance, as claimed abroad, is only another name for 
perpetual bondage, and would make all slaves to the soil where first 
they saw the light. Our national cemeteries prove how faithfully 
their oaths of fidehty to their adopted land have been sealed in the 
life-blood of thousands upon thousands. Should we not, then, be 
faithless to the dead, if we did not protect then* living brethren in 
the enjoyment of that nationality for which, side by side with the 
native born, our soldiers of foreign birth laid down then- lives ? 

It was fitting, too, that the representatives of a party which had 
proved so true to national duty in time of war should speak so 
clearly in time of peace for the maintenance, untarnished, of the 
national honor, national credit, and good faith as regards its debt, 
the cost of our national existence. 

I do not need to extend this reply by further comment on a 
platform which has elicited such hearty approval throughout the 
land. The debt of gratitude it acknowledges to the brave men who 
saved the Union from destruction ; the frank approval of amnesty, 
based on repentance and loyalty ; the demand for the most thorough 
economy and honesty in government ; the sympathy of the party 
of Uberty with all throughout the world who long for the liberty 
we here enjoy ; and the recognition of the sublime principle of the 
Declaration of Independence, — are worthy of the organization on 
whose banners they are to be written in the coming contest. Its 
past record cannot be blotted out or forgotten. If there had been no 
Repubhcan party, slavery would to-day cast its baleful shadow over 
the Republic ; if there had been no Republican party, a free press 
and free speech would be as unknown from the Potomac to the Rio 
Grande as they were ten years ago. If the Republican pai-ty could 
22 



838 Biographical Sketch of 

have been stricken from existence when tlie banner of rebellion was 
unfurled, and when the response of " !No coercion " was heard at 
the North, we would have had no nation to-day. But for the Re- 
publican party, — daring to risk the odium of tax and draft laws, — 
our flag could not have been kept flying in the field until the long- 
hoped-for victory came. Without a Republican party, the Civil- 
rights Bill — the guaranty of equality untler the law to the humble 
and the defenceless as well as to the strong — would not be to-day 
upon our national statute-book. With such inspiration from the 
past, and following the example of the founders of the Republic, 
who called the victorious general of the Revolution to preside over 
the land his triumphs had saved from its enemies, I cannot doubt 
but that our labors will be crowned with success, and it will be a 
success that shall bring restored hope, confidence, prosperity, and 
l^rogress. South as well as North, West as well as East, and, above 
all, the blessings, under Providence, of national concord and peace. 

Very truly yours, 
(Signed) Schuyler Colfax. 

The author of " Across the Continent," who accom- 
panied Mr. Colfax in his trip to the Pacific, thus 
sketches the portrait of the Speaker : — 

" As a public man, everybody knows about Mr. Colfax, — how 
prominent and useful he has been through six terms in Congress ; 
and how, by virtue of his experience, ability, and j^opularity, he 
has come to be Speaker, and stands before the country one of its 
best and most promising statesmen. But this is not all, nor the 
best of the man. He is not one of those to whom distance lends 
enchantment. He gi'ows near to you as you get near to him ; and 
it is, indeed, by his personal qualities of character, by his simplicity^ 
frankness, genuine good natm'e, and entire devotedness to what he 
considers right, that he has 23riucij)ally gained and holds so large 
a place on the public arena. jMr. Colfax is short, say five feet sLx ; 
weighs one hundred and forty ; is young, say forty-two ; has brown- 
ish hair and blue eyes ; is a childless widower ; drinks no intoxicat- 
ing liquors ; smokes a la Gen. Grant ; is tough as a knot ; was bred 
a printer and editor, Ijut gave up the business for public life ; and 
is the idol of South Bend and all adjacencies. There are no rough 



Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 889 

points about him. Kindliness is the law of his nature. Wliile he is 
never backward in differing from others, nor in sustaining his views 
by arguments and by votes, he never is personally harsh in utter- 
ance, nor unkind in feeling ; and he can have no enemies but those 
of politics, and most of these find it impossible to cherish any per- 
sonal animosity to him. In tact he is unbounded, and with him it 
is a gift of nature, not a studied art ; and tliis is pei'haps one of the 
chief secrets of his success in life. His industry is equally exliaust- 
less. He is always at work, — reading, wi-iting, talking, seeing, 
studying. I can't conceive of a single unprogressive, uuimjjroved 
hom- in all his life. He is not of brilliant or commanding intellect ; 
not a genius, as we ordinarily apply these words : but the absence 
of this is more than compensated by these other qualities I have 
mentioned, — his great good sense, his quick, intuitive jierception 
of truth, and his inflexible adherence to it, his high personal in- 
tegrity, and his long and valuable training in the service of the 
people and the government. "Without being, in the ordinary 
sense, one of the greatest of our public men, he is certainly one of 
the most useful, reliable, and valuable ; and in any capacity, even 
the highest, he is sure to serve the country faithfully and well. 
He is one -of the men to be tenaciously kept in public life ; and I 
have no doubt he will be. Some people talk of him for President. 
]\Ir. Lincoln used to tell him he would be liis successor ; but his 
own ambition is wisely tempered by the purpose to perfoi'm present 
duties well. He certainly makes fi'iends more rapidly, and 
holds them more closely, than any public man I ever knew. 
AMierever he goes, the women love him, and the men cordially 
respect him ; and he is sure to be always a personal favorite, even 
a pet, with the people." * 

Mr. Colflix is by nature warm-hearted; his manners 
frank and cordial ; and he has great personal popularity, 
lie lias always mn ahead of his ticket whenever a can- 
didate for office. Even those of his constituents ojjposed 
to him politically are proud of him as their representative 
and personal friend. When Gen. Grant was informed 
by telegraph of the nomination of the Speaker for Vice- 

* Samuel Bowles, Editor of " The Springfield Republican." 



340 Biographical Sketch of 

President, he said to the gentlemen present, " Well, 
Colfax is the most popular man in the country ; and all 
the Democrats can say against him is that he is a 
Republican." 

In public life, Mr. Colfax has shown 'wonderful 
wisdom in adapting means to ends. He has never 
attempted an impossible statesmanship. He has rightly 
interpreted the prevailing exigencies of the day, and 
endeavored to shape legislation to meet them. To 
be useful, the legislator and the statesman must be 
practical, and possess the homely virtue of common 
sense. 

Both on the floor and in the Speaker's chair, he has 
won the entire confidence and respect of his associates, 
who have had opportunities to observe him for years. 
A recent writer says of him, — 

" He is pure in Ms personal and moral habits ; has a broad, out- 
spoken, and catholic sympathy^ith every good work of reform, 
whether political, moral, intellectual, or religious ; and has the warm 
and enthusiastic confidence of Christians and temperance reformers 
throughout the country. Pie attends, and, we believe, is a member 
of, the Reformed Dutch Church, and is a thorough teetotalist. 
Without being educated as a scholar, industrious reading has 
given him much of what is valuable in scholarshij?, unalloyed by 
its pedantry, its clannishness, or its egotism. Without being bred 
a lawyer, practical familiarity with legislation has taught him all 
that is most valuable in law, freed from the conservatism and 
inaptitude for change and reform which rest like an incubus on so 
many of those minds which are bred by the habits of the legal 
profession to look for precedents which show what the law has 
been, rather than to broad principles which settle what the law 
ought to be. Yet Mr. Colfax has frequently shown the happiest 
familiarity with precedents, especially in cj^uestions of parliament- 
ary practice." 



Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 341 

In dealing with men personally, he exhibits a tact 
equal to his wisdom in dealing with measures. If he 
complies with a request, the favor is enhanced in value 
by the kindness and courtesy with which it is conferred ; 
if he declines, the refusal is softened by his urbanity, and 
evident regret at the disappointment which he causes. 

He is now forty-five years of age, and in the full vigor 
of his manhood. The breath of slander, which spares so 
little, has never touched his character ; and his abihty, 
integrity, and uprightness in all the relations of life, give 
promise of a long and brilliant career of eminence and 
usefulness. 



APPENDIX. 



REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. 

The National Republican Party of the United States, assembled in 

National Convention in the city of Chicago on the twenty-first day 

of May, 1868, make the following Declaration of Principles : — 

I. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the 

reconstruction policy of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in 

the majority of the States lately in rebellion, of constitutions 

securing equal civil and political rights to all ; and it is the duty 

of the Government to sustain those institutions, and to prevent the 

people of such States from being remitted to a state of anarchy. 

n. The guaranty by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men 
at the South was demanded by every consideration of pubUc safe- 
ty, of gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained ; while the 
question of suffrage in all the loyal States properly belongs to the 
people of those States. 

III. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime ; 
and the national honor requires the payment of the public indebt- 
edness in the uttermost good feith to all creditors at home and 
abroad, not only according to the letter, but the spirit, of the laws 
under which it was contracted. 

IV. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be 
equalized, and reduced as rapidly as the national fliith will permit. 

V. The niitional debt, contracted, as it has been, for the preser- 
vation of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over 
a fair period for redemption ; and it is the duty of Congress to 

342 



Appendix. 343 

reJiice the rate of interest thereon whenever it can be honestly 
done. 

VI. That the best policy to diminish our bm-den of debt is to so 
improve our ci-edit, that capitalists will seek to loan us money at 
lower rates of interest than we now pay, and must continue to pay 
so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threat- 
ened or suspected. 

VII. The Government of the United States should be adminis- 
tered with the strictest economy ; and the corruptions which have 
been so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson call 
loudly for radical reform. 

VIII. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic death of 
Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession to the Presidency of 
Andrew Johnson, who has acted treacherously to the people who 
elected him and the cause he was pledged to support ; who has 
usurped high legislative and judicial functions ; who has refused to 
execute the laws ; who has used his lugh office to induce other 
officers to ignore and violate the laws ; who has employed his execu- 
tive powers to render insecm"e the property, the peace, liberty, and 
life of the citizen ; who has abused the pardoning power ; who has 
denounced the National Legislature as unconstitutional ; who has 
persistently and corruptly resisted, by every means in his power, 
every proper attempt at the reconstruction of the States lately in 
rebellion ; who has perverted the public patronage into an engine 
of wholesale corruption ; and who has been justly impeached for 
high crimes and misdemeanors, and properly pronounced guilty 
thereof by the vote of thirty-five senators. 

IX. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers, 
that, because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be re- 
sisted at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of feudal 
times not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our 
national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are en- 
titled to protection in all their rights of citizenship as though they 
were native-born: and no citizen of the United States, native or 
natiu-alized, nmst be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any for- 
eign power for acts done or words spoken in this country ; aud, if 
so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty ol" the Government to 
iutertcre in his behalf. 



344 ^ Appendix. 

X. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there 
were none entitled to more esjjecial honor than the brave soldiers 
and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise, 
and imperilled then- lives in the service of the country. The boun- 
ties and pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders 
of the nation are obligations never to be forgotten. The widows 
and orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of the people, — a 
sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's protecting care. 

XI. Foreign immigration, which, in the past, has added so 
much to the wealth, development, and resoui'ces and increase of 
power to this republic, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, 
should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. 

Xn. This Convention declares itself in sympathy with all 
oppressed peoples struggling for their rights. 

Resolved, That we highly commend the spirit of magnanimity 
and forbearance with which men who have served in the Rebelhon, 
but who now frankly and honestly co-operate with us in restoring 
the peace of the country, and reconstructing the Southern State 
governments upon the basis of impartial justice and equal rights, 
are received back into the communion of the loyal people ; and we 
favor the removal of the disqualifications and restrictions imposed 
upon the late rebels in the same measure as then" spirit of loyalty 
wiU direct, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal 
people. 

Resolved, That we recognize the great principles laid down in 
the immortal Declaration of Independence as the true foundation 
of democratic government; and we hail with gladness every effort 
toward making these principles a living reahty on every inch of 
American soil. 



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